Seven
by annoyingeuropeanfemale
Summary: Growing up in the heart of the greatest spies agency wasn't an easy thing to do. Especially with her talents. Especially with all the surprises that came now. But her life wasn't always like that. And her life will be forever changed after the "Avengers Initiative". (Starts with the "Avengers" and then continues 6 years after. LokixOC).
1. Chapter 1

People always told me I that I was special. That I was gifted. That I was unique and there will never be someone with my talents walking on this planet. I was sick of hearing that, sick of people not understanding what this "gift" really meant. All I ever thought about that was that it was a burden, and this special talent of mine only made me a tool in the hands of the people that cared about me, or at least pretended they cared. That was what I was thinking the first time that I got introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D.

I later found out how wrong I was.

* * *

"What is with all this noise?"

For a person who was recently very close to an exploding bomb, I wasn't feeling that bad. I mean, sure, I was in a coma for nine days, my head hurt like hell, I was limping with my right foot and I had bruises all over my body, but I could move pretty well and I still remembered everything. According to the file that was strategically placed near my bed, there was no permanent damage and I would be fully recovered with three weeks of rest.

So, of course, when I entered the operating room of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s newest and most destructive helicarrier, or, as I liked to call it, "the pancake", my first thought was that the file was completely wrong. Probably hallucinations were some kind of side effect from the painkillers, because I could swear that Natasha was there with Stark, Dr. Banner, the Captain and the asgardian god that had just recently visited our planet.

The men all looked very surprised. Of course, I would be too if a 18-years-old girl just walked there limping and with a bandage on her head, wearing old jeans and a t-shirt and looking like she just got out of a coma(which I did).

"Seven!" Natasha was the first to speak up. Maybe because she was the only one to know who I was. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just woke up from a coma." I laughed a little, and I got a genuine smile from her. "So, what's up with the group meeting? Is the world ending or something?"

"Actually, yes." Nick Fury was the one who answered me. "Glad to have you back, Seven." Phil smiled at me from behind the director and muttered a "nice to see you", so I smiled back even though all my face hurt.

"Wait, so no one cares that there is a child on board of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s super-secret flying saucer?" Stark looked at me like he couldn't believe his eyes and the others only had a slight curious expression on their face.

"I think the proper term is "young adult", Mr. Stark. And now, if you'll excuse me, I will be in my room, banging my head on the walls so I can get another contusion and maybe fall back to my comfortable coma, 'cause this is a little too much for me right now." I tried to leave, but Fury's hand stopped me.

"Agent Coulson will fill you up. Also, you got a prisoner to see." He looked at me with a stern expression on his face. "We're faced with a possible war."

"War?!" I was sure that my face had a handful of emotions shown in less than 10 seconds. "So what, I've been in a coma for like, a little over a week, and the world is at war? Great, just… perfect. Exactly what I needed." I knew I sounded like a whiny 5-years-old child, but that was a little too much for me to handle at that moment. Like it wasn't enough I've almost seen my death, now we were at war with who-knows-what.

I sighted and turned to Phil. "You can tell me everything after I get some coffee and some painkillers." As I turned and left, I heard Stark bombard Fury with questions about why is there a "young adult" on a spies agency's ship and "why not open a kindergarten soon, huh?" kind of sentences, so I just massaged the base of my nose and hurried after the painkillers.

When I returned, there were only Phil, the Captain and Thor at the table, so I went ahead and took a seat besides Phil, who had a giant file in front of him. The two blonde men across the table eyed me suspiciously and a little curious, but I choose to ignore them for as long as I could. Phil didn't wait for my invitation, he just went ahead and passed me the file.

"It's all in there. If you have questions I'll try and answer them, but that is pretty much all." I nodded at him, took a good ship of my large coffee and began doing my homework.

There were exactly 7 minutes and 46 seconds of silence before the Captain cleared his throat and said to me "You are a really fast reader."

I smiled and kept reading. "Years of practice." I answered.

"So, uhm… why exactly are you here, if I may ask?" He was looking around at all the people that surrounded us in the giant helicarrier when he put the question. "You seem fairly young to be an agent." he then added and looked at me, piercing me with those blue orbs of his. I could see why there was a big fuss over him 70 years ago, he was really a handsome man and according to his file (which of course I had memorized) he also had a very impressive set of skills.

"Agent Seven of S.H.I.E.L.D." Stark entered the room holding his way-too-performant cell phone and reading ahead. "Also know as Alice Campbell, Lilly Blue, Diana Armstrong, Veronica Taylor, Ginny Barker, Ellen Cox, Elizabeth Miller and the list goes on with over 100 names of different ethnicity. I found files that go back 10 years ago, medical records and, I must say, a really impressive list of missions." He smirked at me. "Also, the search isn't over."

I looked at him, a small smile on my lips. "Don't worry" I said to him, "those are the only things you will find out."

"Oh, I really doubt that, "Seven". Why do they even call you that?" He switched from arrogance to curiosity in less than 0.3 seconds. "That's not your real name, but I didn't find your original file yet." He looked at me like I was some kind of artifact in a museum, scanning me and probably registering every little detail his eyes could see. "I still don't know why there is such a big fuss about you. From all this you seem just a routine spy, yet Fury gives you access to documents we aren't able to see." He turned around, ready to leave and go back to the laboratory. "But don't worry, I'll find out."

"You won't." My voice was firm. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s such a powerful agency because our information isn't there for anyone to see. Maybe your little bugs will find you some secrets, but I assure you that the best of them aren't in any computer on this world." I returned my attention to the file in front of me, that contained information about the Tesseract and all they could gather about this new threat, Loki of Asgard.

"What do you mean by that, miss?" Thor's voice surprised me a little. It was the first time I heard him spoke, and when I looked at him all I could see was confusion in his eyes. Stark also stopped and turned to face me again, approaching the table and taking a seat near the Captain, so now all three of them were looking at me, waiting for some explanations.

It took me a moment to think about what I should say to them. Of course, I could always tell them the truth, but that would take me hours and I had to go see the prisoner as soon as Natasha finishes with him. So, I made it as short as possible.

"I was born with an eidetic memory. That means that I can remember anything I see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or touch."

"So, what, S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps you because you have a nice photographic memory?" Stark's tone was incredulous and he even left out a small laugh.

I continued while ignoring him. "Aside from that, I also have a condition that makes me… let's say a little unusual. Sure, there are a lot of people with very good photographic memory, but I am the only one that's also suffering from Hyperthymesia."

I could see the Iron Man tapping on his phone, trying to find out more about my condition.

"This is some kind of disease?" Thor asked, one eyebrow raised questionably.

"It's a very rare kind of disease. There are only…"

"Only 20 known cases on the planet. Wow, that's nice." Tony finished my sentence. "So, you can remember everything that has happened to you, huh? Awesome." He smiled, actually smiled at me and I looked at him in utter shock. Was Tony Stark approving of me? I shook my head, the fast movement making it ache again.

"Yeah, that's basically it."

"Do not let yourself be fooled by her appearance, she is a very capable agent, Mr. Stark." Phil said as he came near me. "You done with that?" he asked and pointed at the file.

"Yes, it's all in." I got up from the table, stretching a little and feeling almost every inch of my body hurt. "Thor" I said as I turned to face the asgardian god again, "I need to ask you a few questions about your brother." He nodded and I began walking slowly around the table, trying to get used to walking again. Stark and the Captain left the room, probably going back to Dr. Banners laboratory.

"So, your brother, he's also an asgardian, right?" I began, even though I know the answer.

"Yes, he is of Asgard… though he's not what I am." I waited for some other explanations, but they never came.

"Would you care to elaborate?" I asked again, getting a little impatient.

"Well, he's adopted. He is a Frost Giant." He explained to me.

"What, from the Norse mythology?" When Thor first came to our planet, he was viewed as a threat, so we had to find out everything about him, which actually meant _I _had to find out everything I could about him. Thanks to a Jane Foster, who came in contact with him, and who was now one of our allies, I managed to gather some information regarding the Norse God of Thunder. That also meant that I now know almost as much about Norse mythology as some historians. "So they do exist. Huh." Great, now I had to research the Jotuns as well. "You grew up with him, so you must know him better than anyone." I continued as Thor nodded. "I need you to tell me about his weaknesses." He seemed surprised and almost angered.

"Do you intend to kill him?" I didn't expect that and for a moment I just sat there in silence, waiting for my brain to process what he just said.

"What? No, I don't want to kill him." I managed to laugh a little at the thought of me killing a so-called god. "They why ask about his weakness?"

"I wasn't asking about ways to kill your brother. I highly doubt I could ever be able to do that." A small smile appeared on my face, as I imagined myself battling one of the Asgardian princes. "I wanted to know what he likes, what provokes him compassion, if he actually cares for anything except you." Thor turned his face from me, starring through the giant windows of the pancake, probably lost in thought.

"He was always a calculated child." He finally said. "More rational than I was. He loved to hunt, and to ride, and he had a strange fondness of small animals." The god smiled a little, probably remembering something from years ago. "He always had a great respect for people who fought for what they believed, and who would go through any pain without complaining." He looked at me, studying me from head to toe and then smirking a little. "He also had a preference for small brunettes."

"What, you think I am small?" Maybe I was a little pissed about this. "FYI, I am 5'5 and that's an excellent height." He was still looking at me, but the smirk was gone, replaced now with a more serious expression. "By our terms, you are small, miss."

Before I could say anything else, I heard Natasha's voice in the little transmitter in my ear. Apparently, Loki wanted the Hulk. "I'm sorry, but that's my call." I said to Thor and turned around. "Phil! I have a plan." Agent Coulson came to me, and I began explaining to him what was on my mind as we made our way to the cell.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Phil!" I greeted as I entered, slightly gazing at our prisoner, but keeping my attention focused on my facial expressions.

"Oh, Seven! You're up!" He smiled warmly at me. "You look horrible." He continued, and I could see he was trying his best to stay in character. "How are you feeling?"

"Thanks." I muttered and tried to look offended. "I feel better now, with all those painkillers roaming free through my system." I said and turned to the cell, where a man stood right in the center. I didn't want to believe Thor, but maybe he was right about me appearing small to them, because his brother was also very tall. Loki of Asgard, who was actually a Jotun. He wasn't as well built as his brother, but he certainly could resist well in a fight. Except from the light-colored eyes, I could see absolutely no resemblance with the God of Thunder, and even that wasn't concrete, since I couldn't see from that distance if they were blue or green.

"I brought you coffee." I said to Phil while still looking at Loki. He didn't seem to want to notice my presence. Well, too bad for him, but he will talk with me, even if I have to cry in front of him.

"Oh, I just had one like five minutes ago." Phil excuse himself. "But thank you."

"Well then, more for me." I said as I took a sip from my coffee. "So, who's the tall, dark stranger in the cage?" I asked, pretending I was fascinated by the Norse god.

"His name's Loki. He just declared war to the planet." Phil said nonchalantly.

"Loki?" I said surprised. "Loki, as in brother of Thor, the God of Thunder that was on our planet like a year ago, Loki?" I pretended impressed, and Phil had to cough a little to hide his smile.

"Yeah, that one. Also, his brother is in the main room." I tried to look at him as shocked as I could, which went pretty well. He smiled at me and then took his hand to his ear. "Sorry, could you stay here for some time? We have a situation in the lab." I nodded and Phil left the room, leaving me alone with Loki. Just like we planned.

I headed to the chair that was near the suspended cell and took a place, careful with my injured foot. He made absolutely no move, just sitting there in the center and looking up. I stared at him for over five minutes, but he still made no move. It was time to break the silence.

"So, how'd you like the Earth's hospitality?" I asked and took a sip from my coffee. Still no response. "Do you want some coffee?" I asked again. This time, he looked at me. I could swear his eyes widened for a few seconds, but I couldn't be sure. He stood there with a straight face on, deciding to not speak to me. "What, you don't understand English? I thought that you all spoke it, but, oh well, I guess I was wrong." I laughed a little. "Moron." I whispered as I looked at my cup of coffee.

"I do speak your language." He finally said, looking me straight in the eyes. "Also, I am no fool. And I have no reason to talk to you, child." He turned around and sat on the bench in the cell while I was squeezing my cup.

"Too bad then, I could've helped you. But since you think I am just a mere child on a super-secret ship of a spies agency, I guess you have no use of my skills." I said as I got up, careful with my leg and pretending I was in great pain, which was not so far from the truth. I slowly made my way to the exit, and strategically dropped my coffee, cursed a little, then painfully lifted it and put it on the table nearby, all this with a painful expression on my face and holding my right leg.

"What happened to you?" He finally asked. I stopped and turned my face a little.

"Not that you would care" I answered slowly, "but I was shot." I laughed a little. "This is my tenth time."

"Why?" he asked.

"Why not?" I answered again, turning to face him. "I'm a spy. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. I posses valuable information. Of course other people would want me dead, especially people who know how important I am for this agency."

"But you're a child. Why would they use you?" He looked at me suspiciously, his bright-colored orbs measuring me from head to toe, much like his brother did not so long ago.

"They don't care for such thing as age. I am but a mere tool for them, and they can do anything they want with me." I put on my most heart-breaking smile I could manage. "I was raised for this purpose."

His face was still stern, but I could see he was interested in my story. "Why would you want to help me?" He asked again. I gave him a mischievous grin. "Why not?" I said again, then my expression became as stern as his. "I know what is like to be a prisoner for people who do not understand your abilities. Believe me, I would've sold my soul for someone to at least pretend to be a little nice to me." I turned to leave, but as I expected, he stopped me again. "I would like that coffee now, if you please." His phrase surprised me and I let him see that, then I smiled warmly at him, took the coffee I originally brought for Phil and went to his cell. I inserted my personal code and a little part of the glass moved, so I put the coffee in that space and then entered the code again, making the glass close on my side and open on his. He took the cup reluctantly so I gave him a slight nod. "Careful, it might still be hot." I told him as he took a little sip out of the cup. He looked at the black liquid as he swallowed it and then looked at me again.

"Thank you." He said with a little nod of his head. I smiled at him, actually really happy that he accepted it, and I could swear I saw his face muscles move a little. The longer I stood in his presence, the more I felt like my mind was playing tricks on me. "So why did they keep you captive?" he asked, piercing me again with his eyes.

I sighed as I made my way back to the chair. "People fear what they can't understand." I made a move towards the exit with my hand. "They thought that I was some kind of genetic experiment, or I suffered from some kind of mutation. But it would've been nicer if they put me in a cell. Instead, I spend almost two years of my life being a lab rat, taking pills and having medical exams and seeing all kind of doctors from around the world." I looked down, trying to have a painful expression on my face. "Nobody bothered to talk to me. Nobody ever wanted to stay near me. The only words I heard were "we need to take some more blood" or "take this pill, it will help you". Nobody cared that I was a 7-years-old child who was terrified of that place and who never knew what a family was." I could feel my eyes beginning to get teary and I could feel his eyes piercing me, trying to stare into my soul. "They treated me like I was some kind of freak and when they realized I wasn't, they began to train me to become one of them. By the time I turned 10, I was already a highly trained spy, a tool in their hands. And I could do nothing to escape that." I wiped a tear from my cheek and refuse to look at him. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have to hear this." I managed a small smile. "Great, now I'm crying like a little baby." I got up from the chair and covered my face with my hands.

When I looked at him, I could see that under that rage and need for power, he was interested in me and in my story. Maybe he was even a little sorry for me. And that's exactly what I needed. "I'm sorry again I let out my life story like that, it's just…" I took a deep breath. "You're actually the only person that asked me about myself." I smiled at him again. "And I burdened you with the sad story of an orphaned child."

"Help me." He said, coming closer to the glass as he looked right into my eyes. "Help me and I promise you they will never use you again. You will be free." I looked at him a little scared, unsure what method should I use next, when the alarm went off. There was a lot of screaming in my ear and not even 10 seconds later, Phil came running to me with two suited up men behind him.

"We're attacked!" he screamed to me. "We need to get you out of here and to the safe house." He grabbed my arm before I could say anything and started to drag me out of there, helped by the other two men. I stopped and took one last look at the Norse god, with fear in my eyes that maybe he saw through me. But his eyes were widened as his chance of escaping was taken away. All I could do was mutter a silent "I'm sorry" as they closed the door behind me.

"What the hell is happening?!" I yelled as I was dragged through the main room and to the platform where our planes were.

"Agent Barton is here" Fury said to me while he was loading his gun. "One of the engines is out, so we need to get you out. It's not safe." He looked me straight in the eyes and put a hand on my shoulder. "If this thing goes down, you're the only thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have. You must be out of the radar." I knew perfectly well that wasn't true, that the agency had a least a dozen other places where they kept all the information, but it was a nice thing to say from the director, since those could be his last words to me. So I nodded and then followed the agents out on the platform.

The entire helicarrier was shaking and I could feel my heart beating faster as we made our way to the jet that waited for us. I got in, all my body aching again and shut my eyes tight, not wanting to see anything from what was happening. After I felt we were far enough, I opened them again and looked at the bright blue sky ahead.

"Are you okay ma'am?" One of the two men that brought me to the jet asked me.

"Yes." I answered him, even though I was lying. We were leaving behind all the people I could call "family" at the mercy of a twisted Norse god and there was nothing I could do for them. I felt useless. I felt week. I wanted to cry and to scream and to punch something. Instead of that, I closed my eyes again, and tried to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Everybody knew about the Avengers now. They were everywhere, television, radio, news channels. The whole world knew what they done for us, how they saved us. Of course, only a few knew the price that was payed for us to be safe (and I'm not talking about money here, even though there has been quite some destruction made). Only a few knew about the lives that have been taken, and the ones that have been destroyed. Good people died for the world to be safe, and those people will always be there with us, even if only in our memories. Those were my thoughts as I watched the Avengers take their goodbyes in the park that day. Everybody was going where they thought their home was, probably tired, but most definitely happy with what they've done.

Except for maybe one person. I couldn't really see his expression from that distance, since I was standing in my car at a safe distance so I wouldn't be spotted, but I could tell that Loki was not happy at all. I could never imagine what he must be feeling, defeated by those who he called "lost creatures", but in that moment I was truly sorry for him. And I couldn't help but wonder what waited for him in Asgard. I guess he deserves whatever comes to him, after all he tried to take our planet. But why was I still under the impression that he was just a lost soul, trying to do the right thing to save himself?

I shook my head and pressed the button that made the window go up as I took one more glance our saviors. And that was the moment I met his gaze again, but this time there was no rage in it, no hunger for power, no madness. Maybe a little hate, but the only thing that I saw then was tiredness. He was tired of all, I could see that even from that distance, I could see it because I had the same expression dozen of times. He just wanted everything to end. The window closed and I pressed the acceleration, wanting to go as far as I could from his eyes. Before I could even manage to get on the streets and onto the traffic, I was crying.

* * *

_6 years later…_

"If I will not get my two weeks off after this, I swear to God I will kill you with the file for this mission!" A young woman's voice could be heard as she was running at full speed on the streets of Jamestown, NY, making her way to an almost empty parking lot. It was almost 2 a.m., and if anyone would've heard her, they would probably think she was crazy, running in the middle of the night and talking alone, but the little transmitter in her ear said that there was somebody who listened to her.

When she entered the parking lot, she turned right, avoided two parked cars and plunged on the hood of a third one, landing near the tire as two gunshots were heard.

"Shit!" She exclaimed as she fished her keys out of the jacket's pocket, opening the car and getting in. "Please tell me the windows are bulletproof!" She said as she started the car, got out of the parking spot and pressed the pedal to the ground. The tires made an awful sound. "Yes, they are." She heard in her ear. _Good, _she thought as one of the bullets hit the car, probably leaving a little hole somewhere. Two more gunshots were heard, but she was already out of their range. She drove through the city a little, making sure she had no tail, and then headed to the exit, trying to make her way back to her house.

_Her house._ It still sounded strange for her. It was the first time she had a home, a place of her own. Almost four years and she still couldn't believe it.

"Seven, you good?" The voice of the director surprised her a little. "Yeah, I'm fine." She answered. "And I got it all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have my two weeks of leave and send you the file in, hm, let's say 2 days." She smiled, imagining Fury's stoic face right now. "Just a second. Our radars picked some kind of strange energy outside Frewsburg, in the middle of a field. It's in your way, so go check it. It won't take you long." The woman sighed. Six years since they knew Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technology couldn't determine the source of a little energy. "Fine." She wasn't in any mood to argue, she just wanted to go home and climb in her bed and sleep 'till noon the next day.

It took her 20 minutes to get to that field and then 5 more minutes to get to the exact location. She started to walk around the place, in complete darkness, searching for whatever could've alerted S.H.I.E.L.D., but she didn't see anything.

"Nice" she said, "you sent me in the middle of nowhere to search for nothing." Then her eyes fell on a shape, lying no more than 5 meters from her. "Wait a minute" she said again in the dark. She took out the small gun she was always carrying. "What is it?" this time it was an agent who asked what was going on, meaning that Fury was probably somewhere else by now. Which was perfectly alright for her, since the shape almost gave her a heart attack and placed her in a very strange situation. "It's nothing. I thought I saw something, but it was just a dead fox. Really, I was sent here to find a dead fox." She tried to sound annoyed and it probably sounded convincing since the agent said: "Alright, Agent Seven. Director Fury told me that you are on leave for two weeks starting tomorrow and that he expects the file in maximum two days. Have a nice holiday." There was a small clicking sound, and then the young woman carefully took the transmitter out of her ear, made sure to close it and then put it in the pocket of her jacket.

"SHIT!" she screamed into the night. She turned to the figure lying at her feet now, and then carefully inspected it. He was barely breathing and he seemed unconscious, but there were no signs of any fatal wound anywhere. She sighed in relief and then did the last thing she was supposed to do: she picked the man up and carried him to her car, or at least tried to. After 15 minutes of struggling and curses, she finally managed to get him on the backseat. She then grabbed a flashlight from the car and went back to inspect the place where she found him, but the only proof that he was even there was the slight bent grass where he stood, so she got back to her car, got in, started the engine and drove to her house.

"Six years ago I wake up from a coma, barely alive, and find this guy in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cell who then escapes and tried to take our planet. Now I got away from international drug dealers, barely alive, just to find the same guy laying in the middle of a field on my way home. Isn't it perfect?" she muttered to herself while driving, still wondering why did she thought that saving the Norse god from dying in the middle of a field on Earth was a good idea.

* * *

**So, took me enough, but it's ready, chapter III! Opinions?**


	4. Chapter 4

It was 6:30 a.m. It was a beautiful late March morning, with the birds singing and the Sun slowly warming the Earth, and I was sitting at my kitchen table, my head in my hands, having a headache.

Last night was… well, it was unexpected and surprising and most of all it was a mistake. I still couldn't believe what I've done, but I somehow felt responsible. I mean, wasn't the moral duty of a person to save another? But if the person who needed saving was a threat to possibly the whole planet, was it my duty to let him die alone and in the middle of nowhere? I decided to push my thoughts away, and go check on him.

Loki was still unconscious, lying in my bed, wrapped in blankets and bandages. I wasn't really medically trained, but I did learn to recognize a great variety of diseases, to disinfect, clean and sew wounds and to fix broken bones, so from what I could tell he only had a twisted ankle, a deeper cut on his right forearm which I cleaned and sewed and what I hoped it was a minor contusion since he was still asleep. Besides that, his whole body was covered in small cuts and bruises. I went to check his pulse again, but when I touched his wrist, his eyes shot open as he grabbed my arm.

He looked at me shocked and confused, and frankly I was feeling the same. I had no idea what to say to him, so I just stood there and looked at him, probably with a blank expression on my face. He continued to stare at me until he decided that I wasn't a threat to him and then let me go. I left the room in a hurry, and came back with a glass of water. He was sitting now on the side of the bed, examining his body and pressing curiously various bruises, wincing in pain at some of them. I approached him slowly, and handed him the glass, carefully not to touch him and avoiding his eyes. He took it, but just stared at it, like he expected the water to talk to him and tell him all its secrets.

"It's just water." I said and then cleared my throat. I shifted my weight on my left foot as he drank the whole glass without breathing. He handed me the empty glass and made a small move with his hand signaling me to go get him another. After he drank the second one he put the glass on my nightstand and just stood there, staring into space.

"Where am I?" he finally asked, his throat sore. "Earth." I answered.

"I know that." He said tired. "But where?"

"My house." I said as he tried to get up from the bed. "Careful, your ankle is hurt." I moved towards him and reached for his arm to help him, but he pulled it rapidly, and with that fast move he lost his balance and fell back on the bed, letting a little moan of pain escape his lips. I scoffed, and went near him again, glancing down at him smiling, but with a frown on my face. "You ok?" I asked and gave him a hand to help him up. He took it, surprisingly, and was back on his feet within seconds. This time he was leaning on my hand, and tested his injured foot. It probably didn't hurt so much since he let go and started limping through my bedroom.

"I see you've improved your cells." He said looking around. "Much more comfortable than the last one." He glanced at me, waiting for my reaction and then limped back to the bed, carefully sitting on it. "I told you, it's my house. It's not a cell." I sighed. "Nobody knows you're here, so you're safe." He started laughing. "Something funny?" I felt my jaw clench, but I tried to stay calm, even though he was clearly mocking me.

"You really think that I am that stupid?" he said, his face serious again. "I may have hurt my head, but I'm still not enough of a fool to believe you, child. So, how many people are surrounding this place? What kind of weapons have you developed recently?"

I took a deep breath. I may have been able to get over the use of the word "child", but the confident grin on his face that showed he had no doubt he was a prisoner again made my blood boil. "Listen to me, you arrogant little prick" I said between clenched teeth, "I saved your life. You should be really damn grateful that I didn't let you die in the middle of nowhere, do you understand that? If it wasn't for me, you'd be _dead._" I knew I was overreacting, but I didn't care. I always tried to keep things bottled up, but it was something about him that made me explode now. "So a 'thank you' would be nice."

"You should have let me there." His words surprised me, but his expression made my stomach twist a little. His eyes were just empty, blank, like someone who had no reasons to be alive anymore, but more than that I saw pain. He was in pain, and he was broken, and he wanted to die, and I never thought that I would live the day to see such a painful expression on someone's face beside myself. "After all, I really have no reasons to be here." He stared at the wall in front of him, at the shelves with all kinds of souvenirs I gathered from around the world, and I didn't know what to do. All my anger vanished and I went and sat beside him, touching his arm gently. He winced a little, but kept his hand there, watching my hand as it sat on his. My experience to comforting people was very limited, and I had no idea what to say to him so I decided to tell him the words I wanted to hear so many times.

"You shouldn't think like that." I began, but he interrupted me. "If you are going to tell me what a beautiful gift a life is, then please spare me. You have absolutely no idea what I feel." His face was stern again and he got up from the bed and headed to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked as my hand slipped under the pillow, taking the small gun that was always there. "I told you, I have no reason to be here. I'll gladly accept any form of punishment the All-Father would give me as long as he would take me away from this miserable land." In a matter of seconds I was behind him, gun pointed at his heart. He didn't even have time to grab the door knob. "You, sir, are not going anywhere. If you want to leave this planet, your wounds will have to heal first."

He turned slowly, not even caring about the gun, and looked down at me, a small smirk on his face. "Come on, finish this now. You would do me a great favor really. After all, I'm a mere human now myself, it shouldn't be that difficult." His eyes were locked on mine now, and I could finally see what a beautiful green their color was. "I didn't break half of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rules and went out of my way to save your ass just to kill you myself." I said as I put the gun down. "Now go back to bed and start telling me your story, or I will shoot you in the leg to make sure you're not going anywhere soon." He looked at my determined expression and then sighed and went back to my bed, lying down carefully. I could see on his face that every move he made hurt, but he didn't say anything, so I did.

"Do you want me to give you some painkillers?" He looked at me confused. "Medicine." I said again. "For your pain." He shook his head. "Do you want some more water?" He refused me again. "Something to eat?" I tried again, but his expression just became annoyed. "The only thing I want is to go away from here, but since you won't let me…" That cheeky smirk of his was back on his face, but his eyes were still empty, so I gave up. "Fine." I accepted as I sat on the other side of the bed, putting my feet up and tangling them. "Now spit it up, Norse boy. What's happened to you in the last six years?"

"Make yourself comfortable." He said looking out through the window. "It's a long story."

* * *

_For the person who asked why is she called Seven, you will see soon enough :)_


	5. Chapter 5

_Oh, look, new chapter, finally. Busy week is busy._

* * *

"So, basically, you spent four years in the asgardian prison, then almost two more years as a slave to the Jotuns, and the next thing you know you're back on Earth?" After 20 minutes in which I listened to the former insane Norse god explaining me what has become of him in all this time, I pitied him. But I still found his story a little hard to believe. "And now you're completely human, no magic tricks or anything, and you have no idea how or why? You just woke up here?"

He was curled in the middle of the bed, covered in blankets, his eyes lost, wandering through his memories as he probably tried to remember more. "Yes." Was the only thing he said. I had no idea what to believe. "You know what?" I said as I got up from the bed. "You should get some rest. Try to sleep."

"I can't." he shivered a little and pulled the blanked closer to him. "Try." I said and left the room.

I went to the living room and let myself fall on the couch. There was a lot of information for me to process, and I started wondering if all this was worth it. I mean, sure, he tried to take over our planet, and killed a lot of people, but he spend almost six years doing his punishment, being locked away from the only family he knew and then tortured by those of his own kind. I always tried to be a fair person, but did everyone deserve a second chance?

I started yawning. _I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I will take care of him until he's all healed. _I said to myself. _Why do I feel like I'm making a terrible mistake?_ That was my last coherent thought until I drifted away, sleep taking over me.

_ The room had no windows, but you could see everything crystal clear. There was a bed, and a small chair that was used as a table, books covering it and lying on the floor next to it. Loki sat on the bed, elbows on his knees as the door opened. Thor entered the room, his expression kind as he asked his brother how was he feeling and putting another book and a tray with various fruits near the bed. The answer was not heard as the image of the two brothers fade away and got darker. A loud clapping noise was heard, followed by a strong laugh, echoing in the dark. Then screaming, lots of it. It was loud and painful and heartbreaking as it slowly fade away. Then ripping noise, as something was thorn and another scream was heard. The laugh continued, icy cold and a small whimper was heard. "Please." It was the only intelligible word and the voice repeated it like a prayer, like it's life depended on it, clinging to it. But the laugh still went on as more screaming was heard, echoing everywhere…_

I woke up screaming, my heart racing and head pounding, sweaty and panicked. It took me more that I thought it will to realize where I was and what was I doing there, and to realize that the screaming I heard wasn't mine, nor was it from the nightmare I had. It was coming from my room.

"Loki?!" I screamed as I entered my bedroom like a storm. He was sitting by the bed, pale and trembling, muttering slow "no's" and staring into space. "Loki?" I said again, kneeling beside him and trying to get his attention. He looked at me and my stomach twirled a little. His eyes were full of fear, tears streaming on his face as his lips trembled, small sobs coming from between them. I put my hands on his shoulders and tried to keep eye contact. "Loki, it's me. It's fine. You're safe." I had no idea if he understood what I said to him, because he was still staring, the same look full of pure fear on his face. "You are safe, Loki." I said again and shook him a little, making his eyes widen ever more, if that was even possible, as he finally came to his senses. "It's okay. You're home." I didn't know why I said that, but I felt him relax, the trembling stopping.

His eyes drifted from me, avoiding my look as he got up and sat on the bed, wrapping the blanket around him once again. Seeing him so vulnerable, seeing anyone being vulnerable around me was a new thing. Nobody wanted to confess their deepest, darkest secrets to a highly trained spy that was suppose to keep her emotions at minimum, so I had no idea how to act. Actually, since I bought him here a few hours ago, I had no idea what to do around him. It was like the time when I started learning foreign languages, I knew I would figure it out eventually, but I was so confused and angry at first and it made me feel uncomfortable and it seemed pointless, but I put my finger on it in the end. So I just had to let things flow naturally.

"Would you like something to eat?" He nodded, so I made my way to the kitchen. I took the eggs out of the fridge, along with some butter, ham and cheese, planning on making some sandwiches. As I turned to put them on the table, I saw a shadow out the corner of my eye, so I automatically dropped the butter and my hand went at the back of my jeans, searching for the gun that wasn't there, since I was at home. Loki was sitting at the table, cross-legged and with the blanket still wrapped around him.

"You sneaked up on me." I said incredulous as I picked the pack of butter and put it on the table. Years of training and fieldwork and a traumatized god managed to sneak up on me in my own kitchen. "All of you humans think you are so special." He said, eyes following me as I began to fry the eggs. "But you are just a bunch of useless and fragile creatures that think themselves superior even though you are so close to death all the time." I prepared a snarky remark, but he continued. "Though I have to admit you have your qualities. At least some of you." A small smile appeared on my lips as I took a plate out. "Please don't forget that for the moment, you are human too." I said and put the fried eggs in front of him. "And a very poorly one, as a matter of fact." He ate the eggs while I made him some sandwiches, and then sat down at the table too, making sure he ate all of it.

"Aren't you going to eat, child?" He asked as he ate the last sandwich, his lips moving a bit upwards, knowing that the appellative annoyed me. "I'm not hungry." I said, keeping my face expressionless. "And I also have a name."

"And what is it? He asked again. "It's Seven." He looked at me with his eyebrow raised. "That is not a name, that's a number." I laughed a little as I took the plates and went to the sink. "It's the only name I know."

"But why do they call you that?" His curiosity started to annoy me. "Why do they call you Loki?" I asked in return. "Because that is my name." "See? I have the same reason."

He shook his head. "Your race is very strange. I read a lot about you, but I never heard anything about naming the younglings with numbers." I turned to him, rolling my eyes. "Of course it's not my real name. But it's the only name I know since I've been with S.H.I.E.L.D." He frowned, looking me in the eyes as another question was spoke. "Why are you still with those people? Why do you still work for them after all they have done to you?"

_Shitshitshit. _I froze for a second, remembering the story I made up six years ago. I had to convince him somehow that I was as broken as him, I had to soften him and to make him maybe see sense and then hand him to his brother before he made any more damage, so I made up the story about how S.H.I.E.L.D. used me and never cared for me and now he was remembering it and I didn't know what to do next. He somehow gained a little trust in me now, I even went as far as thinking he had accepted me, and now I had to somehow tell him that I lied to him.

"What do you mean?" I decided to play the "I have no idea what you're talking about" card. "You told me what those people made you do, how they used you." I looked at his piercing eyes as I went on with the lies. "I have no idea…"

"You lied." His voice was calm, no intonation or inflections, just a statement. I was stuck. I wasn't used with getting caught, and years of practice made me a decent liar, yet somehow he figured me out. "You are indeed a skilled liar, but I caught you off guard." I smiled a little, glad he didn't throw a tantrum or anything. "What gave me away?"

He got up from the table and went to the window. "You kept playing with that jewelry." He pointed at my hand. "That is a sign of nervousness. You said that this is your house, and right now I am no threat to you, so the only reason you would be nervous is because you did something you regret or feel guilty about." His logic was right, and I told him that. "But why would you regret lying to me?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many questions?" A small smirk appeared on his face as he refused my offer for coffee. "I've been told that I am an incredibly curious person."

"Okay, how about this? I'll answer your questions if you answer mine." I took a seat at the table, coffee in front of me. "Deal?"

"Sounds fair."


	6. Chapter 6

"First things first." I said and took a sip of my coffee. "What have they done to you?"

We were sitting at the kitchen table, me with my coffee and Loki with his (now proclaimed as his propriety, since I figured I had no chance to get it back until I got some clothes for him) blanket, finally getting the chance for both of us to get some answers.

"When my brother took me back to Asgard, the Allfather decided for me to be locked away in the depths of the palace." He shifted a little in his chair. "He did not want to harm me in any way, so I was to sit there and to meditate at my doings for as long as he considered it was enough. They visited me though, Father not so much, but Mother and Thor came every two or three weeks. I tried to…" He cleared his throat, his voice sounding a little thick. "I was a fool then. I tried to make them go away, and let me be, but they always came back, trying to make me see sense, as they put it." A small laugh escaped his lips. "But when they finally did… well, it was too late then."

I looked away from him, trying to get away from the pain that I saw in his eyes, and the fear that followed. After he attacked Earth, after the Avengers stopped him and he was taken back to Asgard, I read everything about the battle. Every report I found, every file, everything that mentioned him even a bit, trying to figure out if I would've melted him given the chance, if I would've stopped him from doing all that destruction. All I could get from that was that he was a twisted person, dominated by hatred and hunger for power. But there was a thing that didn't want to make me believe in all that, that prevented me from judging him only from what others have seen. It was the thing that I saw, and what I saw that day, locked in that cage in the helicarrier, was a person that underneath all that presumed madness was ready to help an orphaned child escape from the sorrowed life she lived. It was that and the look in his brother's eyes when I asked him about Loki's weaknesses, the look of pure anger he gave me when he thought that we intended to kill his brother, and the fierce protectiveness he showed towards him. Thor was a noble and kind soul, but he could never be so attached to someone who he knew held no affection towards him, and that made me wonder about his little brother. I knew Thor loved him deeply, and would do anything for him, so at one point in his life Loki must've also cared very much for his brother.

So seeing him like this made me feel guilty and from that raised the natural urge to comfort and help those in distress.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because that was when the Jotuns came." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, probably forcing himself to keep his composure. "They demanded Father to surrender me or there would be a war. They threatened the whole realm and they had no chance but to render me to them. Asgard could not risk a war."

I frowned a little, confusion building in my mind. "But I thought… you were, you know…"

"I am a Jotun, yes." I saw his jaw clench. "But that does not make me one of them. They despise me, and I have no fondness for them myself. After all, I tried to destroy their planet." He finished with a small laugh. "But they made sure I regretted that decision."

I shuddered a little, unable to find anything appropriate to say to him. "So, why did you save me?" I wasn't done with my questions, and he knew that, but he simply choose to ignore it, so I let it be. "Why not? You were in the middle of a field, unconscious and hurt, and if someone else took you they would've probably murdered you after you woke up." His eyebrows were raised curiously. "Now why would they do that?"

"Because you would've drove them insane." I said and finished my coffee. "Now…"

"Why though? Why help me and regret lying to me? Why are you being so nice to the person who tried to rule your planet?" He was angry, probably at himself because he couldn't figure me out. I hoped that was the reason.

"Well" I started, trying to control my voice from becoming wobbly, "you needed help, and I could give it to you. I had no idea what you would do when you woke up, but I couldn't let you there all alone. I would've done the same to any other person." I shook my head a little, smiling. "I know I shouldn't have done it, and I broke a lot of rules and if I get caught I will probably get kicked out or end up in jail, but I can't help it. If I just let you there my consciousness would've probably killed me and then I would've felt responsible for your fate for the rest of my life." I didn't think he could understand that part of me. I was with S.H.I.E.L.D. since I was four, I was trained for a lot of things and I always knew what to do, no matter the situation, but I was never able to detach myself from my emotions. They were too strong, too intense for me to control in some situations, that most of the time I just went with the flow and forgot all that I was taught. So far I got lucky, because they never interfered in my work but now it seemed that my luck was over.

"Thank you." His voice surprised me, all the anger I saw before gone. He didn't look at me, but I could tell he was somewhat ashamed that he needed saving. "You saved my life. Though probably I will never have the means to repay you for this."

I laughed a little at his statement. "Just try to behave while you're here, okay?" He frowned again, his eyes following me as I looked for my car keys. "I will try." I nodded to him and then I waved for him to follow me. "This is the living room. The remote in on the couch and you can read anything you'd like from the bookcase. If you get hungry, there's enough food in the fridge and the bread is in the cupboard above the sink. Oh, and try not to break anything." I took my jacket and put my shoes on as he stood in the doorway. "Where are you going?" His voice seemed a little panicked.

"I have to get you some clothes, right? You can't stay in those filthy pants I found you in forever." I took another good look at his figure, approximating his measurements. "I'll be back shortly." With that I closed the door and left him alone in my house.

The whole house was a birthday present from Tony Stark. Yes, _the _Tony Stark had a house designed and built for me four years ago. I still had no idea how he found out when my birthday was (though I was suspecting Phil told him), but that day he came at S.H.I.E.L.D's New York base dressed-up in a very expensive suit, interrupted me in the middle of a very urgent meeting with director Fury, took me and got me in a helicopter with absolutely no explanation. Of course I was pissed at first, but then got curious as why he didn't say a word the whole time we were in the air, even though I bombarded him with a ton of questions. When we landed in a large clearing in an unknown forest for me, his grin covered all his face while he handed me a scarf. I asked "What for?" and he just told me to cover my eyes so I won't ruin the surprise. Honestly, at that moment I knew Tony Stark for almost two years and he still managed to surprise me on a daily basis. I remember how he told me to trust him, and I told him that was never going to happen, then I laughed and he took my hand and lead me through the forest. He didn't say anything for the eight minutes and 24 seconds we walked, and then he just told me I could look.

When I took the scarf off and opened my eyes, I remained speechless, my mouth opening and closing like I was a fish out of water. The large white house in front of me seemed cozy and welcoming, a huge red and golden ribbon above the front door.

"What is this?" My voice was a trembling a little as my mind tried to form a connection between the beautiful house in front of me and the road here. "It's your birthday present." Tony said and put an arm around my shoulders, smiling widely. "From all of us. Happy birthday, Special Agent Seven!" He said and, surprisingly, he kissed me on the cheek. "You'll find all you need inside." He handed me the key and then walked back to the helicopter, leaving me in the middle of the forest alone, but with a new home.

I smiled at the road in front of me as I drove to Frewsburg, remembering how I ended up with a house at the outskirts of the South Valley State Forest. The portion where the house was built was owned by Tony, even though he wanted to put in on my name, but I didn't let him. After all, it was easier to avoid any kind of legal issues if your house is situated on Tony Stark's land.

After the Avengers Initiative, after the attack and after all the destructions were repaired, the team was split, each of them in need of a nice vacation. Fury sustained loud and clear that he has no idea where they were, but of course that wasn't true. Surprisingly, they kept in touch, and after a while they all came back. Natasha and Clint were still the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D. had, so they naturally came back at the job. Tony had already repaired his tower, improving it even more and he invited Dr. Banner to stay with him and Pepper there. The Captain also moved in the Stark Tower, but he kept his small apartment, spending some of his nights there if Tony and Bruce blew out the lab. Thor also visited every month, though his main reason was know under the name Jane Foster, not the other members of his team.

In the end, they just became one big, awkward family, and that was the best for them. They even had a monthly day they would spend together, the first Saturday of every month, and they would just gather at the Stark Tower and talk or watch movies or just hang around each other. It was their family time. I was once invited, after S.H.I.E.L.D. had to send Clint and Natasha to take me out of an underground bunker where I remained trapped in that special Saturday of theirs, so in the end the whole team came and rescued me. Of course they took me directly to the Stark Tower, had Dr. Banner check me for any kind of injury and then I had to explain my whole mission to them and how I managed to remain trapped there. After that incident, they kind of adopted me, always asking about my missions and Tony coming and blowing my cover because he wanted to watch a movie or go shopping with me, also researching with Dr. Banner and training with Natasha and Clint, and showing New York to the Captain and Thor and talking about Asgard with the God of Thunder. They all considered me their little sister, even though I was a very capable agent. Of course, I wasn't part of the Avengers, I had no role to play in their team, but I liked to consider myself part of their family. I just hoped they felt the same.

* * *

_Please remember I have no idea about the state of New York, I just thought that the South Valley Forest seemed like a good place for a nice, isolated house that Seven would like. It's not really in the middle of the forest, it's actually close to the edge, and it would take about half an hour to get to Frewsburg. If you have any other information about the place, it would be very welcomed. Anyway, chap. VI, enjoy :)_


	7. Chapter 7

He hated it, all of it. This useless body of his, this house, the way she treated him like he was some abandoned child, the fact that he had no idea how he ended up here. He despised it, all the things that happened to him. Was this some kind of sick joke? Did the Jotuns had enough fun torturing him in every way possible, so now they sent him here, to that planet he failed miserably to conquer, just to screw up with him more? Or did someone actually saved him from the pitiful life he had in Jotunheim? Could he be safe here? Could he trust that woman that claimed she wanted to help him? Or was she lying and this was a test? Maybe it was, maybe they all waited for him outside, ready to kill him at the slightest sign that he wanted to escape this house.

He sighed and put his head in his hands, the book on his lap long forgotten. He had been in that living room, as she called it, reading in a giant armchair since she left the house half an hour ago. Tons of questions were invading his thoughts, and he couldn't stop them. They haunted him, just like the images that appeared every time he closed his eyes, just like the nightmares he knew he would have if he fell asleep. Frankly, he was scared. Terrified, actually. They managed to break the God of Mischief. After he realized what a fool he'd been, what all that hatred did to him and how weak he became under the influence of the Master, after he was ready to atone for his deeds and ready to go back to his family, they came and took him and broke him, leaving him only a ghost of his former self. He was amazed that he was even alive after all he'd been through.

But he still had no idea how he ended up on Earth. And he was too scared to find out, too scared that he might actually have to go back to _them._ So for the moment, he had to trust this woman that no harm would come to him, that he was safe here.

Seven. What an odd name, but she told him it wasn't her real one. He remembered his brother used to talk fondly of her when he visited him after he came back from Earth. Even though his memories from Jotunheim were mostly clouded, only bits and pieces that were clear, he fought to remember everything before that. He remembered how Thor would always come after his monthly visit in Midgard and spent hours describing even the smallest details to him, telling him about all he saw there. He mostly talked about that Jane Foster, the woman he met during his exile there, and about the time he spent with the Avengers, as they were called. But there were a few times he talked about "Miss Seven", like when he described how they destroyed an entire underground fortress to free her from there and how she told them about her mission. He always talked about how brave she was, how she could remember everything he told her, and all the discussions they had about Asgard. Loki once told Thor that she seemed like a nice person, and that launched Thor into an entire speech about how she would be a warrior worthy of Asgard and about all the times she told him she saved human lives.

He chuckled a little remembering. His brother grew way too attached to these humans for his own good, but he didn't seem to care. But after all those stories his brother told him, at least he knew more about the midgardian customs than the last time he came here.

He got up from the armchair, that grey and green blanket still around him, giving him a sense of safety for some reason. Since it seemed he would stay here for a while, he should at least get to know the place, so he started wandering around the living room, looking out the window and staying in front of the bookshelf, reading all the titles. The room was spacious, but the only things found there were the large armchair he just got up from, a big couch, a coffee table, the T.V. and the bookshelf. It somehow reminded him of the large chambers in the palace he explored when he was a child, so he decided he should see the rest of the house. He left the living room and found himself in a hall with three doors. He knew the one in front of him was the front door, and the one on the left was leading to the kitchen, but the third one was still a mystery, so he opened it. It was a bathroom, also large, and it was dominated by a huge bathtub that appeared large enough to even fit Thor in there. He closed the door and went through the kitchen and into another hall that also had three doors. One of them was the door of the room he woke up in, so he opened the one on the left, that also lead to a bathroom, but this one was way smaller than the first one and didn't have a bathtub, but one of those cabins where water poured from above that Thor once described to him. He closed the door, uninterested, and went to the last one, but that was locked. He considered breaking in for a minute, but decided it wasn't his best idea, so he went back to the dormitory where he got the blanket.

By all looks, it was probably her personal chamber. Like the living room, there were also just a few things in it. It was the large bed he woke up on, a nightstand next to it, a wardrobe and a few shelves full of little figurines and small objects. He got closer to them, eyes lingering over her personal belongings, trying to understand why she kept all those things that had nothing to do with each other. His eyes fell on what appeared to be a large book, so he took it. It was heavy and bound in leather, obviously old, with a single golden word on it. "Album." What kind though? Was it like a journal? His curiosity took the best of him, eager to find out more about this mystery woman he ended up with, so he opened it.

It was a photo album. He didn't find anything else written, only a few photos. The first was showing a small girl sitting on a couch, her hair ruffled and a big grin spread all over her face, looking mischievous at the camera. In the next one was the same girl with a man that seemed fairly familiar, but Loki couldn't exactly put his hand on it, so he went to the next one. This one seemed like an ID picture, with the same girl, but she was older, about 12 or 13. There were several photos of people he didn't recognize, two more ID pictures and even one with his brother and that team of his, all of them trying to fit on a couch that was obviously way too small for them, but it was the last one in the album that caught his eyes. It was taken in that flying base where they held him, he could tell that, and in the center of the photo was a young couple. The woman had her back at the camera, trying to hide her face as the man was in a motion of wrapping his arms around her, smiling brightly at the camera.

Loki didn't know how for how long he stared at that photo or how many scenarios played in his head about it. He didn't even know how to feel about the picture, but it gave him the feeling that she was happy with that man. The question was where was him?

"His name was Andrew." He jumped a little, her voice surprising him. She was good, he didn't even hear the door open. "He died five years ago." He looked at her, the small figure in the doorway. Her voice was calm and composed, and so was her face, but her eyes were pinned on the album he held. She seemed so ordinary, a figure your eyes wouldn't remain on if you were in a crowded space. Common, normal, nothing special. No feature that would point her out. Average height, dark brown hair, brown eyes, normal nose, normal lips, normal body. She had the kind of face that you would forget as soon as you would see it, but he knew better than to judge so quickly, because he knew she was more than ordinary. And with a quick glance at the photo, he knew that he wasn't the only one to notice that.

"I'm sorry." The words seemed strange on his lips. He knew he should comfort her, but he didn't knew how, so he put the album back in his place and went to look out the window. "It was a long time ago." She said five years. Five years wouldn't seem so long for a normal person, but she wasn't like that. For her it probably felt a long time since she remembered everything that happened in between. "Must be hard to remember everything." He heard her inhale deeply, and he regretted his words.

"Let's not talk about this. I bought you some clothes." And with that she left the room, closing the door behind her. He didn't even glance at the bags she put on the floor as he followed her.

"Why? You were the one who said you'd answer my questions." She didn't face him as she unpacked some bags on the kitchen table. "You didn't ask any questions." He went and stood beside her. "Tell me about him." He watched as she got some fruits out of a brown bag, her hands trembling a little. "There's nothing to tell. We were together. We were partners. He died on a mission while I was in the hospital." She started to put all the things she brought in their places. His eyes followed her, noticing how tense she was. It wasn't an easy subject for her, but he wanted to know more.

"Did you love him?" She stopped in the middle of the kitchen, his words repeating over and over again in her head. Did she love him? She wasn't sure about that. She cared about him, of course, he was the only person who got so close to her in all those years. But love? She felt the word was way too big for what she was feeling. "No."

The word floated around the room for a while, none of them making a move. The more he learned about her, the more confused he got. She didn't love that man, but she was together with him. They were partners, but he died while they were separated. He threatened her planet yet here he was, in her house, under her protection. Every time he thought he figured her out a bit, she would say something that pushed him back into complete darkness. "You are like a riddle." With those words he proceeded to leave her alone, going back to the books in that living room of hers.

"Funny." She didn't laugh. "Your brother said the same thing about me."

* * *

_A little Loki insight, because I felt like it. Anyway, I'm down with a little cold, so I have absolutely no idea when I'll finish the next chapter, sorryyy :(_


	8. Chapter 8

Of course he would do it. I knew it was a bad idea to let him alone in the house, but I had no choice. It was me leaving for an hour or him walking half naked in my house for as long as he stood here. I suspected he would want to know more about me, I almost knew for certain that he would go through my stuff, but to actually find him looking at my photos and asking me about Andy was a little too much, so of course I was _a little_ pissed. I was surprised he didn't break the door to my bureau.

I heard his footsteps in the kitchen and I got out of the bathroom. He looked at me as I stood in the doorway, waiting for my judgment. I was a practical person, so I had no idea what he would like to wear, though I guess he wouldn't like any clothes Earth had to offer, so I just bought him three pairs of pants, a few shirts, shocks, boxers, a pair of slippers, a pair of sneakers and pajamas. Currently, he was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt, his hair wet from the shower he just took.

"Seems they fit." I said and gestured to his clothes. He nodded and looked out the window. "Come." I said again, signing for him to follow me. I took him to the bigger bathroom, and he sat down on the chair I took there. He looked confused and a little terrified when he saw me grab a pair of scissors.

"What are you doing with that?" I smiled a little at the sound of his nervous voice. "Killing you." My smile widened as he jumped from his chair. "Relax, I'm joking." He frowned, clearly disapproving of my laughter. "I do not taste your kind of humor." "You don't have to taste it. Now sit down." He did as I said, but was still agitated. "Have you actually looked in a mirror recently?" I continued. "You really need a haircut." He stared at the mirror in front of him, but made no move to avoid my hands as I began to comb his now almost waist-long hair. "How much do you want me to cut?"

"I don't know. Do whatever you like." _Well, if you say so…_

It took me all my willpower to not give him a ridiculous haircut just to screw up with him and get a little revenge. My hands were practically itching to do something, _anything_, but I managed somehow to contain myself. Instead, I just cut his hair at the same length it was when he came here six years ago. "All done." I said and put the scissors away, starting to clean the bathroom that was now full of jet black hair. He just stood in front of the mirror, looking at himself in every angle possible, a small frown on his face. "You don't like it?" I secretly hope that he didn't like it, just so I can see him everyday struggling with it, but I didn't thought he cared. "I look… human." The small smile on his lips was clearly not a happy one. "You are human now. Better get used to it."

* * *

"It got dark outside." I didn't respond to him, even though I knew he was making efforts to have a decent conversation. We were sitting at the kitchen table, eating a late dinner. My cooking skills were mediocre at best, but I managed to make some chicken soup and mashed potatoes, with a platter full of fruits for dessert. Since I only started actually cooking my food only when I got this house, I had no idea how to make more complicated recipes. Most of the meals I ate consisted of sandwiches and simple dishes that didn't take more than half an hour to make.

"I need to improve my cooking skills, since it seems that you'll be staying with me for a while." I said, just to make some conversation. Apparently, he appreciated the soup but was a little reticent about the potatoes. "Why? What do you eat when you're here?" I didn't actually expect him to continue our little chit-chat. "Usually sandwiches and easy dishes. I don't exactly have much time for myself, and when I do I prefer to sleep, or do anything else besides eating."

"That reminds me, aren't you suppose to go in those missions of yours or something?" Oh, he remembered that I work, how nice. "I'm on vacation for two weeks. I took so many missions lately that I barely had time to drop home, and sincerely, I was exhausted, so I took some time off." I couldn't exactly tell what he was thinking of this, but I could tell he was a little relieved that I wasn't leaving him alone. "It's getting late." I said and got up from the table, gathering the plates and placing them in the sink. "You should get some rest. How's your leg?" He was fascinated by a banana, turning it and trying to figure how he should eat it. "Oh, I forgot about it. It's better, I guess. Doesn't really hurt anymore." I stopped him before he took a bite of the whole thing. "You have to peel it first. Here, let me." I took the fruit from his hands. "The arm seems good. How's your head? Does it hurt or do you have a funny feeling about it?" He took the banana from my hands and took a reticent bite of it. "No, it's alright." "You sure? No dizziness, no pain?" He ate the rest of the fruit with only one bite. "Yes, I am feeling good."

I cleaned the table a little. "Well, that's good then. But I still have to change the bandage on your arm." He took the small bandages I placed on his body off before he took that shower and refused to have new ones. I tried to argue with him, but of course I had no chance in making him change his mind. "Very well, then." When we entered my bedroom, I pointed him to the bathroom to go change while I prepared to bind him up. He came back quickly and sat on the bed, so I rolled up his sleeves. "This might sting a little." I warned him, but he made absolutely no noise or movement while I disinfected the cut and checked the threads.

"Okay, you're all done. Now get some sleep, you'll need it." I said and made my way out of the room. "Where will you sleep?" I stopped in the doorway again, and turned to him with a smile. "I won't. I'll be in my bureau, it's the room next to this." Before I closed the door, I heard his voice again. "Uhm… may I leave the small lamp on?" I blinked surprised, the scared look he gave me making me wonder about the nightmares he had. "Sure. Do you want me to give you some sleeping pills?" I always had some in the house since I couldn't fall asleep very easy. "They will help you sleep better."

His hands were playing with the edge of the blanket, his eyes avoiding mine. "Yes, please." I got him the pills, told him if he needed me just to call, and then wished him good night.

I wished I could say I was feeling good, that I wasn't concerned about him and that I didn't care. But of course I did. The state he was just a few hours ago made me worry about him a lot more than I should, and made me angry at all those creatures that did this to him. How much did they torture him to break him this much? He was unstable, I could see it, even though he would never admit it. I saw the way he tried to hide it from me, to make me think that he's alright, but deep down, under that mask of superiority and curiosity he wore, he was scared, terrified. He reminded me a lot of myself, and that damn time that I hoped so much to forget, and that made my stomach twitch in a very unpleasant way.

I laughed a little, the sound having a strange echo in the room. My bureau, as I called it, was the room where I kept all S.H.I.E.L.D. related documents, all the reports I had and files about the different missions I've been. One of the walls was covered in shelves that got up to the ceiling, and the only thing in the room except that was the desk I sat at and the big leather chair I stood in.

I tried to get all the worries out of my mind and focus on the file for the mission in Jamestown, but of course it was no good. I thought about making some coffee, but that required me to get up, and I had absolutely no intention of doing that. So instead, I put my head on the desk, and with all the stress and exhaustion from the day, I fell asleep in an instant.

* * *

This time I wasn't that surprised when I woke up in screams, but I still rushed into my room in the middle of the night to check on him. This time he was still in bed, and although I tried to prepare myself for the terrified expression he would have, his face still surprised me.

I went and sat next to him, calling his name softly. He was trembling, and I don't think he even realized where he was. I could see his eyes weren't focusing, staring into space and I tried to get his attention, but even though I shook him, yelled his name and hit him a little in the shoulder, he didn't come back. Instead, he started kicking and screaming, and in that moment I was glad I didn't have any neighbors. I got away from him, since he slapped me hard, and started panicking a little. I didn't know how to get his attention, so I let him to calm himself. That took several minutes, but in the end he was curled into a ball in my bed, sobbing and still trembling, muttering slow "no's" again.

I approached the bed slowly, careful not to scare him again. When I sat beside him and called his name again, he looked up, eyes red and teary, with a confused expression. "Shh, it's okay." I touched his arm gently as he came to his senses, realizing where he was. In a moment of sheer instinct, I leaned and hugged him, feeling as he tensed and then relax in my arms, his face buried in my neck. He wrapped his arm around me, hugging me tightly, almost letting me without air, as he started crying again. I just held him, talking quietly and saying it will be okay, until he calmed down again. I remembered how proud he was when he came here six years ago, with how much arrogance he stood in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s. You could see the power the surrounded him then, and now he was sitting in my arms, crying like a child, broken and human and somehow it pained me to see him so vulnerable.

When he finally let me go, I smiled at him, feeling my shirt wet from his tears. I got up from the bed, but he grabbed my arm. "Don't leave." He was still scared, even though he knew it was just a nightmare. "I wanted to make you some tea, but if you want I can stay." He didn't want to look me in the eyes, but he didn't let go of my arm, even though his hands were still shaking a little. "Please." He was just like a lost child, too scared to say something but too afraid to be left alone, so I stood beside him again, smiling as I took his hand. "You're still tired." He nodded. "Sleep. I'll be here." I started playing with his fingers, hoping that would subconsciously help him a little. "But I…" I didn't let him finish his thought. "I told you, I'll be here. You need to sleep, with that blow to your head you need rest. Don't worry, I'll stay here and I'll wake you up if I see you're having a nightmare again, okay?" He looked a little worried, but laid back in the bed, squeezing my hand as an agreement. He was asleep in a matter of minutes.

* * *

_Writer's block, ugh. And a cold. So the chapter's awful, but I'll make up in the next one._


	9. Chapter 9

There was a lot of light when I woke up, my body aching a little for sleeping in an uncomfortable position, but feeling fully rested. But beside the light, there was another surprise: I was in my own bed, in the middle of it actually, and there was a lot of light in the room since the curtains were drawn, and it was also past 11 a.m. And after the initial 10 seconds surprise came the realization.

"Loki?"

No sound. The room was empty and there was no sound coming from the bathroom or the kitchen. I got up from the bed, my clothes from the other day completely crumpled, and started searching for him. When I didn't find him in the kitchen, I started panicking. He couldn't have left, I made sure last night that the security system was on, so he couldn't have got out of the house. Unless…

When I entered the living room, the scene surprised me. The Norse god sat on the couch, completely captivated by the T.V., watching some documentary on Animal Planet. I snickered a little, and saw his eyebrow raise questionably. "The creatures on your planet are so small." I started laughing harder since he was watching something about rodents. "There are bigger ones too, don't worry." He didn't even glance at me the whole time I stood there, and that was a little surprising, considering the fact that I fell asleep last night beside him. On top of that, he didn't wake me up, he just covered me and let me sleep as much as I liked and instead he came here and watched television and that was somehow sweet of him. "Do you want something to eat?"

He still didn't take his eyes from the T.V. "No, I ate some of those things on the platter." _Lord he's going to starve if he's eating only fruits._ "Well then, I'll leave you to your… show. I'm going to take a shower." He nodded slightly, and I left the room.

The shower gave me some thinking time. Even though I didn't have any plans for my free two weeks, I still had no idea how to take care of Loki. He would get bored eventually, and would want to leave the house. I thought about trying to contact Thor, but that required to talk to Jane Foster, who was still in New Mexico, or at least talk to one of the Avengers, but I couldn't do that without revealing _why _I needed Thor to come here and I guesses they wouldn't really like to hear "Oh, I've got Loki over to my house so I need his big brother to come pick him up". And contacting S.H.I.E.L.D. was out of question, since they would take him in for interrogation, and that would probably just break him more. Plus, they would probably lock me up too, since I helped the Norse god who destroyed New York.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. Thor would have to come in a week on Earth, for the Avengers special Saturday. I could take care of Loki until then, and when he'll come here I'll take him here and have a conversation with him and Loki and everything will be sorted out. I didn't think Thor would abandon Loki, not after all the Jotuns did to him. Then he would take his little brother back to Asgard and it will be like it never happened and I could go back to my life without anyone knowing about it, except those two.

Happy with my new plan, I got out of the shower, put on some clean jeans and a shirt, and went to the living room humming a little. Of course Loki was still watching the T.V., curled on the couch. "I put you some clothes on the bed, go get changed. We're going out." He closed the T.V. and passed by me without a single glance. It was a nice day, and going out for a bit wouldn't hurt. Plus, he'll get to see some faces and see that there's nothing for him to be afraid of, and with a little luck nobody will notice us.

I ate an apple while I was waiting for him, and thought about where would we go. Jamestown was big, and nobody would recognize us there, but it was a higher chance that there were some S.H.I.E.L.D agents there and a lot of security cameras too, so I decided Frewsburg would be better. I took off the ring that I was wearing, who could be used to track my moves (present from Nick Fury when I got the house, just so S.H.I.E.L.D. would always know where I was), turned off my cell phone and started searching for the car keys. Loki walked into the kitchen dressed in a pair of black jeans and green t-shirt, with the hat I found for him in one hand and a pair of sunglasses in the other.

"What are these for?" I tried not to laugh while I went to him, putting his hat on, and trying to cover most of his hair. "Those are to cover your eyes. It's a disguise. You never know who might recognize you." I felt that something was missing though. "Shit, I knew I forgot something." I heard him snicker at my words, and I mentally slapped myself since I tried to watch my language around him. But sometimes my mouth got the best of me.

I went to the hall, telling him to put his shoes on while I went to the hanger and pushed one of the small screws that kept it to the wall. Instantly, a portion of the wall lit, a small screen there. I entered the code and the wall between the hanger and the living room door moved, revealing a set of stairs. I went down and I heard him coming after me, probably wondering about my secret door to the basement of the house. When Tony designed the house, he made the part on the surface a nice and cozy house, and the basement a veritable bunker, ready to resist any kind of attack. And of course he made the door to it a hidden one.

I never really used it though. I just kept stuff there, like some boxes with a lot of things belonging to the Avengers, since some of then spent some nights here, and some exercise machines and a punching bag and a ping-pong table, a bed and two armchairs. I searched in one of the boxes, remembering clearly that Clint left a jacket here sometime, while Loki inspected the room. I found it, a brown and black jacket that I hoped would fit him, so I gave it to him. "Put it on, it's still chilly outside." And with that I proceeded to go back upstairs, put my shoes on and take the car out of the garage.

He didn't say anything the whole road, just sat and stared through the window. He never looked at me, so I kept my eyes focused and let my mind wonder why he was acting like that. I showed him the place where I found him, but he still didn't say anything. Surprisingly, though, the day went well. It took him a walk through half the town to start talking, but when he did he just didn't stop. It was quite pleasant, actually, having him smiling and talking and having a good time. We avoided any kind of painful memories, and he actually told me about his childhood and all the pranks that he and Thor pulled and I told him what a problem child I've been for .S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents and we laughed and had some pizza for lunch and walked through the city and sat on a bench in a park and fed the pigeons with some pretzels. It felt good, and natural, and we got to know each other and at the end of our little trip I actually felt alive for the first time in a long while.

"I'm actually very serious." We were almost home, and I was telling him about the time I put a few tarantulas in Clint's bed, after he brought Natasha in S.H.I.E.L.D. "He ran out of the room screaming like a little girl." We both laughed, me remembering exactly Clint's face that day and how bad my stomach hurt after, and Loki probably imagining the scene. I never realized how much I've missed having these kind of conversation with someone. I spent a lot of time in the field, I almost never had a partner and when I did I never afforded to have such relaxed conversation with him. Phil and the Avengers were the closest things I had to friends, but I never had much time to spend with them. I like being alone most of the time, but that didn't mean that I liked being lonely, and the company of a former mad god seemed to actually improve my mood. _I think I'll actually miss him a little after he'll leave._ _Too bad he has no idea that he will._

"So, tell me about that secret door of yours." I was in the kitchen, just sitting there and staring at nothing in particular when he walked in. "Well, it's…" I was interrupted by my phone ringing, Fury's number appearing on the screen. I answered it.

"A jet's on the way, you need to come here." No introductions, no nothing, that was definitely Nick Fury's style. I never remembered having a conversation that lasted more than two minutes with him. "Do I need to bring anything?" Short pause. "No, just you." And with that, he hung up.

I stared at the phone for a few seconds, my mind racing, trying to find the reason he wanted me back at S.H.I.E.L.D. I knew Clint and Natasha were on a mission, so maybe it was about that. He knew I was on leave, and he would never call me in if it wasn't something very important._ Maybe he found out about Loki._ I drove that thought away, since it wasn't possible. I was very careful, we didn't enter places that had security cameras, we didn't bump into any familiar faces and I used every method of counter I knew. So that couldn't be it.

"Will you be okay for a couple of hours? I need to get back to the base." He frowned a little, but didn't look at me. "Of course." I could tell he was upset, or even a little angry that I left him alone again. His jaw was clenched, even though he made visible efforts to hide it. "I promise I'll be back by nine. Here." I put the pizza we brought back with us and put it on a plate and into the microwave, then programmed it. "If you're hungry, the pizza's here. Push this button and when it beeps, you can eat it, it will be hot just like the ones we've ate earlier." He looked at the machine a little confused, probably wondering how that little thing could warm up something. "Don't open the door until it beeps, okay? I don't want you to burn yourself or anything." The jet could be arriving any moment, so I took my jacket and put my shoes back on. Loki just stood in the kitchen door, watching me as I tied my shoelaces. He didn't look surprised at all when he heard the plane landing not far away from the house. "Be good." I mumbled, not entirely sure he heard me, and then I left him alone in my house, again.

* * *

When I entered Fury's office, my face as calm and collected as possible, my mask almost dropped. He was very pissed off, and that was never a good sign. Nick Fury was my legal guardian, he found me, found out what I was capable of, brought me to S.H.I.E.L.D., gave me something I could call home, gave me people who cared about me, gave me hope. He raised me, he trained me, he taught me almost everything I know, and after all the time we spent together, I could definitely tell when there was something unpleasant going on. And this was definitely one of those times.

"Agent Seven, please take a look at the photo on my computer." I did as I was told, approaching his desk while he was still facing the giant window of his office, not even giving me one look since I entered the room. _Something bad is going on. Something very, very bad is going on._

When I saw the photo, my heart stopped for a second.

* * *

_I am so sorry it took me so long to upload the next chapter but this was supposed to be a 4 maybe 5 chapter story I never wanted to go this far and I just barely scratched the plot I think I'm writing a whole novel here I'm so sorry_


	10. Chapter 10

At first, I didn't understand why Fury wanted me to look at a photo of a blonde teenager girl that smiled widely at the camera, but when my eyes scanned the rest of the photo, my jaw dropped. I was in that photo, in the background, my profile visible, wearing the same clothes I was wearing now, smiling at the tall man with sunglasses next to me. I knew how the photo was found. The blonde girl in the photo like it, so she uploaded it on the internet, making it automatically enter in S.H.I.E.L.D's face recognition program that was used to find any evidence that could endanger any agent's cover or mission. The program found my face, the person in charge of it told Fury that my face was recognized and Fury most likely told the person to sent him the photo and then to get rid of it. Of course that person didn't recognize that the man next to me was Loki. But Fury did.

_Well, shit. _I should've been more careful, I should've looked around more. And now Fury found out and my house probably was surrounded by a dozen of highly trained snipers ready to kill Loki at any sign that he was a threat.

All this happened in about 10 seconds, so I composed my face again, hoping that my voice wouldn't give me away. "What's with this?" I was calm, my voice was normal, and when I turned to Fury all my face could give away was a mild confusion as to why he called me here to show me a photo of a random girl. "That's you in the photo, Agent Seven." Cold voice, stiff back. He definitely knew, but I decided to play the innocent further. "Yes, I noticed. What, can't I have a nice date from time to time?" I tried to make myself sound pissed at the fact that he was checking my personal life. I saw his jaw clench. "Yes, you are allowed to have a 'nice date' from time to time, but not with the man who tried to rule the fucking world!" He snapped and my eyes automatically went on the ground. "What was in your head, Seven? Helping that insane god, _acting like he's just a normal person? _What, you didn't know that it was Loki? Did he enchanted you like he did with Agent Barton?"

My hands were clenching on the fabric of my jeans. "It's nothing like that." The look of pure disappointment Fury gave me made me mad, instead of upsetting me. "He _is_ a normal person! He's human now!"

"And that means he's not a threat? That means that you have to hide him from us?" I stomped my foot, my jaw clenched. "You have no idea what happened to him, what he's been through. _You have no idea!_ He's been tortured and ripped apart and broken and the last thing he needed was for you to cage him again!" I was completely furious now, angry that he didn't understand why I did it, why I didn't tell him about Loki being at my house. Fury turned his back to me again, facing the window. When he spoke again, his voice had its usual tonality. "Maybe you need to check again where your loyalty lies, Agent Seven."

For a moment, everything stopped. My heart, my breath, my body, my surroundings, everything. I couldn't believe what he just told me, I couldn't believe he was questioning my loyalty. He knew there was no way in hell I would betray the agency, the agents, that I would die 20 times before I would betray him, yet he dared to question it now, knowing the effect his words would have. And it hurt. I swear I could hear my heart being ripped apart as his words continued to echo in my head.

"I knew it." My eyes were already getting teary. "This is exactly the reason I didn't tell you about him. Even after all this time, even after seeing so many things, _you still can't believe that people can change._" My voice was getting thick, and I hated it. I was trained to hide emotions, but I just couldn't anymore, not with what he just said to me. "There were so many people thrown at you, so many lives _you_ changed and made them better, yet you can't accept the fact that even someone like Loki could change. What, you thought that I can't take care of myself? That I can't tell if he's still insane like he was the first time he came here? Newsflash, Director Fury, _I know what I'm doing." _I couldn't keep the tears any longer, and they were now running down my face. I tried to bring my breath to normal, but instead I was making strange noises.

"You're right." When I looked at Fury again after I wiped my tears, his face surprised me. He was mildly shocked, probably the rarest expression I saw him make and that gave me a little hope. "Take a seat and tell me the story, then."

I did as he said, and I told him the whole story, including the nightmares. I tried to make him see that there was no danger, that Loki was harmless and that he will be sent back to Asgard when Thor would come on Earth.

"But are you completely sure he's safe to be around?" _Of course I was sure he wasn't dangerous, I wouldn't have brought him in my damn house if he was. _"Yeah, it's okay. He's good. Also, he trusts me, kinda. So it's fine." Fury looked away from me, probably trying to grasp all that I told him. He was still reserved about the whole story, and of course he had no reason to trust Loki. "It's… he's lost." I finally said. "He doesn't know what to do. He even told me that I should kill him, that he has no reason to be here anymore." I shuddered a little at the memory, and Fury noticed it. "I highly doubt he wants to hurt anyone anymore. I don't…" I didn't finish my thought, mainly because it was just a feeling. "Go on, tell me. You have a feeling about all this, don't you?" He gave me a half smile, confident that he hit the point, and he did.

"Well, it's just… I don't think he was really himself six years ago. It's… it doesn't sound like him, doesn't sound like anything he told me or anything that Thor told me. I don't know, it's just a strange feeling." Was it possible that he was being manipulated six years ago? Yes, it was. But he also told me that the only thing he regretted was the fact that he hurt his family. He never mentioned anything about what he'd done here, only that his family made him finally see sense and then…

"Well then…" Fury got up from his office, turning his back to me once again and looking through the window. "You should go back, it's getting late. I expect the file for your last mission tomorrow morning." I got up and made my way to the door, mumbling a short 'good bye' to him. "I trust your judgment, Agent Seven. Don't let me down." I turned to him smiling, and in a sudden impulse, I ran and gave him a quick hug, just like I used to do when I was little. He patted my head, just for a moment, and then I left.

* * *

When I got home, I could hear the water running in the bathroom beside my room, so I guessed Loki was taking a shower. I took the opportunity and entered my bedroom to change my clothes. I was tired and in no mood to do anything beside go and wrap myself in a blanket on the couch, and that was exactly what I was planning to do. Of course, it would've been better if when I opened the room I wouldn't have come face to face with Lokis bare chest. Also, it would've been even better if he would've actual clothes on him, not that white, fluffy towel around his waist that barely reached above his knees.

"Oh, you're home." He smiled a little at me, and it seemed like the lack of clothing was nothing unusual for him, but I wasn't feeling that comfortable with an almost naked guy walking around my house. No matter how _nice_ he looked without clothes. "Uhm, yeah. And I'm going to bed." I passed him, incredibly proud about the fact that I managed to sound normal and not blush. _Great, now I'll have this image in my head 'till morning. _"But I thought…" When I turned around again to look at him, prepared to maintain my eyes on his face, he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing on the whole planet, with his face a little flustered and his hands constantly moving, unable to find a stable position. "What?" I had a hunch about what he wanted to tell me, but if he wanted something, he would need to learn to vocalize his feelings. He took a deep breath before answering.

"I thought that maybe you could… I could use one of those sleeping drugs you gave me." _Wow, that was a surprise. _"Sure, I'll get you some. Get dressed until I come back." I was almost certain that he would ask me to stay with him until he fell asleep, or even to let him sleep next to me again. But, if I thought about it, he didn't say anything about last night and I had no idea what to think about it. Guess I should look at the bright side, at least he didn't get any more nightmares after that.

He was waiting for me on the side of the bed, hands in his lap, playing with the outskirts of his shirt. He did that a lot lately, playing with everything that came in contact with his fingers. Those long, white fingers… "Here." _Damn, focus! _At least I managed to sound normal, even through my mind was way too focused on the scene I saw earlier.

"Stay." He grabbed my wrist again when I reached to get the empty glass of water from his hand, eyes locked on mine. He had that expression again, that sad puppy, lost child, that screamed he needed comfort and a hug expression, that showed me again how scared he was. And that actually scared me too, scared me because I couldn't resist that, I couldn't let him alone with his nightmares, not after he had been alone the last two years. So I stayed.

* * *

_Short chapter is short and also I have no idea what I'm doing anymore but omg thank you for the reviews I can't believe people are actually reading this what_


	11. Chapter 11

"Loki?"

"Mhm…" The clock on the nightstand showed that it was 8:30 in the morning, but the curtains kept everything in the room in almost complete darkness.

"Where is your shirt?" Okay, I may have fallen asleep next to him _again_, but when I did that he was fully dressed. Now the only things he seemed to have on him were his pants and he was comfortably half asleep on me, his head on my belly and feet tangled with mine, with one arm around me and the other god knew where. "It's hot." It was definitely not hot. Actually, the only thing in the room that had an odd temperature was him. "You're cold, Loki. How are you not freezing?" Now that I woke up I actually felt how cold his skin was, and that couldn't be a good sign. "It's hot." His sleepy voice was cute, but that didn't mean he had to drag me closer to him and make himself even more comfortable on my stomach.

"Okay, it's time to wake up, c'mon!" I managed somehow to untangle myself from him, almost falling off the bed by doing so, and went to the windows to pull the curtains. "There's too much light." He mumbled, turning on the other side so he wasn't facing the light directly.

I looked at him and couldn't believe my eyes. He seemed so… human. I never expected him so become so familiar with me in so little time and I felt like I wasn't keeping up with him. He got accustomed so easily and that scared me, because somehow I knew he liked it here, he felt good here and that made things harder for me because I had no idea how to break the news to him. How would I tell him that Fury knows he's here, and will kill him without hesitation if he makes a wrong move? How was I supposed to tell him that he was going back to Asgard, back to that cell and to the people that send him to the Jotuns? _God, he barely let me bandage his wounds when he got here and now he used me as a pillow._

"Fine, stay in bed." I left my bedroom and went straight to the coffee maker in the kitchen, the smell of caffeine waking me up completely. After a short trip to the bathroom, I was sitting happily at the kitchen table, enjoying the silence and the nice cup of coffee when I heard the doorbell ring.

_What the hell? _I lived in a house in the forest. Sure, the main road wasn't that far away, but I never, in four years, had any kind of guests or lost travelers knocking at my door, so all my senses were on high alert. I took out one of the many guns I kept hid around the house out of a drawer and headed for the door carefully. Usually I kept the curtains drawn, so the kitchen windows were always exposed, but I didn't know what made me close them last night when I got home. Maybe the feeling of paranoia I got after Fury talked to me and thought that we were probably under surveillance? Yeah, probably that.

I opened the door slowly, a stiff smile on my face, the hand with the gun hidden from my visitors sight.

"Hey, kiddo. What's up?" My face went from shock to surprise to curiosity and then back to shock as I looked up at my two guests. "Clint, Natasha. What are you doing here?" I may have sounded a little panicked since I had no idea if this was just a friendly visit or Fury told them about Loki and now they were here to check on us. "Oh, we're just passing by." Natasha responded, carefully studying my expression. "We're heading back to the base. Now would you let us in or…?" _Shitshitshit. This can't be good. _"Sure, come in. I just made some coffee, want some?" They could see I was panicked, I knew that. But they didn't know why I was acting like this, and it made everything worse since they would eventually question my suspicious behavior.

"Yeah, coffee would be great." Natasha went ahead and took a seat at the table while Clint was drawing the curtains, letting the light flood the kitchen and then took a seat beside Natasha, a little laugh escaping her lips as he mumbled something to her.

I grew up with these two, they were practically family, way more close to me that the other Avengers just for the fact that I knew them for longer, that I worked with them and they actually saw me grow up. I remembered the first time Natasha came to S.H.I.E.L.D., I was 14 then and when I saw her I instantly clicked with her. Of course, I don't think she felt the same way then, since she ignored me most of the time, but she grew quite fond of me after a while. So, how could I possibly hide from them the fact that I was hosting _Loki_, of all persons, in my house? They were either going to found out about it from me or from Fury, and I guessed they wouldn't like the second that much.

I put the coffee on the table, watching them getting comfortable. "Uhm, guys… I have…"

"Seven?" _WHY?! _Of course I had to be interrupted by Loki right in the middle of telling Natasha and Clint that he was here. That fact that he was still shirtless made this even worse. Also, the fact that Clint and Natasha had the straightest faces I've ever seen on them only confused me more.

Silence. Clint and Natasha were quietly studying Loki while he was frozen in his place, eyes moving rapidly from me to the two master assassins in the kitchen and having the most hurtful and panicked expression I've seen.

"You knew." That was all I could think of, since they didn't seem surprised at all when he entered the room. They were good at minimizing their facial expressions, but they weren't that good. They practically never moved from their original position on the chairs. "Of course, Fury told us." Natasha was way too calm now, and it was only for worse. I could sense the storm approaching. "Why is he naked?" Of course Clint had to ask something like that. Well, it was better than shooting the guy with one of his arrows for what he did to him, but still. "He's not. Loki, please, go back to the bedroom." He turned around even before I finished my sentence, clearly upset by this. _Well, isn't it my lucky day?_

"I can explain."

"Can you now?" Of course I had to get a lecture from them too. They didn't come here to make sure everything was alright, they came here to tell me that was the worse decision in my life and that I still had enough time to kill him with a spoon or something, like Natasha did a few years ago with that Norwegian smuggler.

"Yes. Please, trust me. He's…" Natasha interrupted me cold. "He's the man who tried to conquer the planet, destroyed New York City and killed hundreds of people, the mad god arrived here from another planet with an alien army and who compromised Clint, and you ask us to trust you? Seven, I love you, really, but this is…" "This is insane!" Completed Clint, hitting the table with his fist and making me flinch a little in surprise. "Yes, it's all true." _Glad to see they're a little surprised though. _"But he also paid for all of that by being locked up for four years and then tortured continuously for another two. He's changed. He's human now. He's vulnerable. You can't deny the fact that those are not enough to at least give him a fair trial here."

"And you know all of these from whom? He told you that?" Clint was definitely getting angry now. "Let me guess, he's also sorry for all he's done? He didn't want to hurt anybody, he just thought he could borrow the whole planet for some time?" Natasha put a hand on Clint's trembling arm in an attempt to keep him down. "Yes, he told me and you know what? _I believe him! _Yes, he's sorry for what he did. I don't know what he wanted then, but now he's sorry and paid for all that! What right do you have to judge him after what he's done in the past?" This wasn't going to end well, I could see that. Even I started to get angry. "A man with your past shouldn't judge others so quickly for something they've done a long time ago." I knew he wasn't going to forgive me for that, but I didn't care right now. He went too far with that. If they knew about it, then Fury explained them the situation and they knew everything about it. This visit wasn't necessary at all.

Clint let his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. Natasha had an impassive expression plastered on her face, not even one of her thoughts visible to even a trained eye like mine. As for me, I stood in my chair, my fists clenching and then relaxing, trying to calm down. I didn't like this, not one bit, but apparently it was necessary.

Natasha got up, put the empty coffee cups in the sink and then came next to me, putting an arm around my shoulders as I placed my head on her hip. She understood what I experienced now, she knew this. She knew how hard it was for a single person to fight for something that seemed a lost cause. She knew because a long time ago, she was in Lokis position. She knew people could change, and sometimes they could become better. She was one of those persons. And now, with this simple gesture of her, with absolutely no words or looks, she showed me that she was going to stand with me and with my belief, no matter what everyone said. _I trust you_, that's what that meant, and for that I was more than grateful.

After what seemed a day of silence, but in reality was just about two minutes, Clint raised his head and looked at me, his sky blue eyes piercing my brown ones. We stood like this for a while, none of us daring to disturb the silence. Finally, he spoke. "Do as you wish." Then, he proceeded to raise from his place and head for the door. Natasha followed him quietly. "Thanks for the coffee." She said and gave me a one-arm hug since she was reaching for her jacket with the other. They left the house and I stood in the door, watching as they left. After six steps, Clint turned around. "Take care, kiddo." And with that, they were gone.


	12. Chapter 12

A game. It was all a game to her. They knew he was here, they all knew, yet she acted so innocent, acted like she was going to protect him from them. Acted like she actually cared about him.

He was angry, but he couldn't quite understand why. Was he angry about her betrayal? Was he angry because she managed to fool him into believing she was sincere all this time? Or was he angry because he trusted her and she lied to him? He didn't really know. Maybe it was because all of that.

He sighed in frustration, sitting on the bed, his elbows on his knees and head in his hands. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't run, that was for sure. Not only was he just a mere human now, all the magic gone, but they would definitely find him wherever he would go. So, what was he supposed to do? He had no idea, but he knew he couldn't leave this place. He couldn't return to Asgard either for the sole fact that they would just send him back to the Jotuns. He didn't even know if his brother knew he was on Midgard. _But if he knew that, he would have come here to see me._

He was alone, again. The only ally he thought he had here was a liar.

And now that liar came and sat beside him on the bed.

Silence. They stood beside each other, the only sound in the room being their breaths. Three minutes and 23 seconds Loki counted. She counted too, but of course he didn't know that. In the end, it was the young woman that spoke.

"I'm sorry." Silence again. She didn't know how to convey all that was happening in her head into words. They didn't seem enough, she couldn't find the right ones to express herself. As for Loki, he didn't know how to take that sentence.

"I…" She was hesitant, she wasn't sure if she could pick the right words. He kept his face straight, much to her annoyance. "I didn't mean to lie to you, honestly. Fury found out, that's why I was called to the base yesterday."

"How?" She seemed sincere, but she was a trained liar. "There was a photo. You remember how we crossed the street because there were some girls with a camera ahead of us? We got in one of the pictures." He nodded, remembering how careful she had been the whole day. "How come I am still here?"

There it was, the question. For him, the question that would decide if he could trust her again or not. For her, the question she knew he would ask because after all this, he lost even the little trust he had in her. What was she supposed to say to him? Could she do it, could she tell him how she fought for him, how she defied everyone that didn't trust him, how it would be all her fault if he did something foolish? That was the best option, but how will she do it?

"Well… it's complicated." She changed her position a little, obviously not comfortable with the discussion. "I kind of guaranteed for you. You're my responsibility, so if anything happens with you it will be my fault. I, well… I took the liberty to tell Fury your situation and you're allowed to stay here for a while."

There was so much he needed to think about. She told her boss about him, but they allowed him to stay here with no obvious condition. What has she done to assure this? She was responsible for him, she was his caretaker for now and if he did something stupid it would be her fault and she would be blamed for it. What will they do to her? Will he remain permanently with her or will they take him? But she said he was allowed to stay a while. _Wait, only for a while…?_

"Where will they take me?" His question surprised her and in response she looked at him confused, her brown eyes having a questionable look while studying his cold green ones. "What?" And only then the question made sense to her, her mind processing what she said before. "Oh… It's, well… your brother will come back on Earth in about a week, so…" She couldn't finish her though, but she knew he understood.

"He'll take me back… home." He kept his face composed, but his voice was shaking a little, betraying all the tumultuous emotions that were taking control of him. "I can't stay here, can I?" It was a pointless question, they both knew it, even though they both wished it wasn't. She wanted him to stay, in a way. She liked him, his company made her feel at peace and that feeling was so rare with her that she wanted to keep it as long as possible. She knew she would never forget the time she spent with him, but still…

As for him, he got strangely attached to this young female. He had met quite a few ladies in his life, but she had something that made him reconsider his opinion on them. Most women that approached him were searching power, wealth or just a good fun, yet she picked him from the middle of nowhere, treated him, comforted him and took care of him, asking for nothing in return. And all of this after knowing what he did in the past, knowing he killed people and destroyed that city. She gave him a second chance, and for him that was way better than any kind of entertainment other women could give him. She didn't care about his position, she didn't care what other thought of him, she stood up for him and showed him that there were still good people around.

"I'm sorry." She wished she knew how to react in these situations, but she didn't. So instead, she got up, still looking a bit confused as to what to do and spoke quickly. "I'm really sorry. I should've told you." And with that she left the room, leaving him puzzled.

How was I supposed to deal with this? I didn't even know how I was feeling. I was baffled, somewhat perplex, even trapped. Was I feeling humiliated? Yes, there was some of that. Outraged? Yeah, a little. Absolutely terrified by what was going to happen? Yes, although I didn't know why. It was just there, all those feelings were there, and I didn't know what to do with them. So I went to the kitchen and took out a pack of cigarettes that I was keeping at a safe place in a drawer.

I was a coffee addict, I knew that much. Take coffee away from me for more than two days, I'll go nuts. But with cigarettes was another deal. I rarely smoked. I had to do that on an undercover mission and since then I found that they helped me think clearer sometimes. I didn't know why. Since I moved in the house, I smoked exactly 199 cigarettes. This was my 200th and I was using it to clear the mess that Loki did in my head.

He confused me. I didn't know what to do with him. I didn't even knew how to feel about him. Wasn't I supposed to hate him for what he did? Then why did I help him? Was he misunderstood? No, that wasn't it. Was he worth it? I hoped so, or else who knows what I would be held responsible for. Did he deserve all this? Well, maybe a little. But wasn't I supposed to care for all human beings? Didn't I make a promise to myself that I would help anyone in need? Wasn't he in need? He was, that's why I helped him in the first place. Did he deserve a second chance? Did I give him a second chance? Did he hate me? Was he still trusting me after all this? Did he even trust me at all? What was he thinking about me?

The worse about this was the "why?" part. _Why did you help him? Why did you protect him? Why did you stand up for him without even questioning him? Why did you care so much for him?_

"Why would you do something like this to me?" I didn't even realize I said that out loud. _Too much thinking. _I went to the living room and curled on the couch, trying to sleep again, hoping it would clear my mind better than the cigarette. I drifted to sleep in a matter of minutes.

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_I'm so sorry for the crappy and short chapter, I promise the following will be better(and hopefully longer) and also shit's goin' to get down in the next chapters and I'm not even sorry... that much._


	13. Chapter 13

_Why was I so near to the T.V.? The couch was far away and I was just drawn to the rapid movements on the large screen. Why were so many people at a funeral? Wait, a funeral? Oh God, I was at a funeral! Who was that woman? I didn't know her, I would remember if I saw her. "Who are you?" I wanted to ask her, but no words formed as I opened my mouth and the crowd got larger and started pushing me. Lost my balance, saved by the coffin. Why was the coffin so high? Oh, it was hanging somehow above the hole in the ground where it was supposed to go. Thank God I managed to grip on the edge so I wouldn't fall. Wait, did that hand moved? WHY?! WHY ARE YOU WAKING UP?! YOU'RE DEAD! Very pale face. Blonde hair. Beautiful blue eyes that stared right into mine, piercing me. A scream was heard._

Screaming. I woke up screaming and sweating, with a pair of green orbs looking at me concerned and a little panicked. I pushed Loki away, trying to make him somehow understand that I was in need of some space.

"What happened? Are you alright?" He was really concerned, what a surprise. Regaining my composure, I stood up and headed to the kitchen. "Yeah, fine. Just a nightmare." I needed coffee, another one. _Third one already and it's not even 1 p.m._ "You seemed… scared." He followed me into the kitchen and stood in the same chair that he always used since he was here.

"That's what nightmares are for, right? To scare you." It felt like ages, and still we only just talked a few hours before. "It's your subconscious, trying to work against you sometimes. Or trying to help you." I didn't face him, I couldn't yet. I knew he was there, sitting in that chair, in a black shirt and the same pants he slept in last night, looking at me, studying me, trying to see in my head. I bet that worked when he had those magic tricks of his, he could definitely read minds.

"Don't do that." I turned to him, taken completely by surprise. I wasn't even sure he even said that. "Face me. I have no power anymore, so just tell me. Talk to me. Just tell me: why?" Apparently we weren't done with the questioning part of the day.

I sighed, and then risked to take a look at him. He was just standing there with that impassive face of his. "Why what?"

"Why did you do all this? Why did you save me? Why would you protect me?" I knew my eyes widened when he spoke, but I didn't really care. He seemed so convinced he didn't have his powers anymore that he made me rethink all he did until now. Maybe him being human was just a side effect of his little trip and now was starting to fade. Were there other signs apart from his coldness and apparently the ability to ask me the same questions I was asking myself?

"I don't know." Simple like that, I really didn't. I was questioning all my motives, all my morals because of what I did, but I still didn't know why I saved him. "I think it was because… well, you didn't seem _that_ bad when I first met you, remember?" I smiled a little at him, and he changed his position a bit. "You offered to help me. You said that I will be free and that nobody will ever use me again. Of course, it was a cover story, but you still wanted to help a young girl escape from the people that were taking advantage of her. I think that's what made me act like this." It seemed like a good explanation. After all, Thor loved his little brother and he believed Loki was still good, somehow. He offered to help me. He was suicidal, for God's sake! How bad could he be?

"I knew." He didn't look at me anymore. His hands were placed on the table, fingers knotted and I couldn't see his eyes since he suddenly was very interested in the pattern of the wooden kitchen table. "Excuse me?" I didn't understood what he knew, what he wanted to tell me, but when his eyes met mine, I realized what he just said.

"I knew you were inventing that. I knew since the moment you locked your eyes on mine. You were… you _are_ a skilled liar, but as you say, it takes one to know one." His green orbs were fixed on mine and I didn't dare to look away, fearing that if I break contact he'll never tell me the rest. _Like a bird in front of a snake, unable to fly away from the danger it sees._ "I knew what you were planning, but two could play that game. I needed someone on the inside, and you were so young and so brave to come and face the villain, thinking you might break them, that I decided it was worth a little act of kindness." The corner of his mouth rose a little in a mocking way. "I never thought it would impress you this much."

I blessed every hour of training I had, because if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to maintain a relatively straight face and speak in a normal voice. "So you lied to me." He seemed surprised by my calm attitude, and frankly I was too. "Yes. I'm sorry." Was everything he did until now a lie? Was he that good of an actor to fool me? He couldn't, not with the nightmares and the talks we had. Not with all that happened.

"It's alright. It's a fair trade, after all." I didn't know why his words hurt so much. I wasn't supposed to get attached to him. I wasn't supposed to be so mad at him for lying to me, for hiding this from me. It wasn't good, and it felt like I was going down fast and I had no chance to stop. "I'm sorry." His voice sounded honest and a bit rough, but I didn't look at him. I was too afraid. I barely managed to mumble a small "It's fine" before I got out of the kitchen and in the hall, then down the hidden stairs and into my fine and safe basement.

I ran away and I didn't even have a good reason to. I was already regretting all this, because me running away like that would only cause more questions and I wasn't ready to answer those. It was a bad decision, but it was already made, and I didn't have any intention of leaving the room before I didn't sort out my feelings. With that decided, I grabbed one of the few bottles of wine I kept on a small shelf, made myself comfortable in one of the armchairs and let all my thoughts consume me.

We didn't speak the next three days. Except the occasional questions he had about the house or human customs, we said nothing to each other. We even avoided being in the same room for too long. He mostly spent his days in the living room, watching T.V. or reading, while I locked myself in my bureau, doing the little paper work I had and cleaning and rearranging everything there.

His nightmares got even worse. He still woke me up every night, but I wouldn't go to check on him. His screams were getting louder and more painful to hear, and he even began talking more in his restless sleep, but I didn't dare go to him and calm him down like I did before. I was too afraid it will only get worse, my feelings that is. After I spent a whole afternoon locked in the basement, contemplating everything we did, I reached the painful conclusion that I was definitely attracted to him, and that would end up in chaos if he ever knew about it. I was good at hiding my feelings, after all I was a spy and a well-trained field agent, but I feared the intensity they could reach if he did anything that would seem like a positive response to them. So I kept quiet and avoided him as much as possible.

It only made things worse.

On the third night we didn't speak, he had nightmares again. I fell asleep in my bureau again, but his screams woke me up. The loud thud I heard after that made me even more worried that I already was, so without thinking I rushed to my bedroom. Loki was awake now, surprisingly, since I was the one who usually had to wake him up. I didn't turn on the lights, but I went to the windows and opened the curtains, letting in the little light that was coming from outside.

He was curled in a corner of the bed, eyes wide and hair and clothes damp with sweat. He was breathing heavily, but tried to hide that. Still, it was good he didn't have that look of pure terror he had when he first started having nightmares. Now it was more the face of a man who accepted his fate, even though it wasn't a very pleasant one. That was all there was, acceptance, and maybe just a little glimpse of fear. And something that looked a lot like hope when his eyes landed on my figure.

"I'm sorry." His voice was a little hoarse.

"You apologize too much without reason." I went next to him and took his hand to check his pulse. "You're cold again." Something was very wrong with that, yet I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry." It was dark, but his voice had a little mocking tone. "I'm serious, Loki." His eyes fixed on me and I didn't look away, putting on the best "I'm-serious" face I had.

"I'm sorry." He seemed sincere this time, which was the cause that made me broke out in laughs. He seemed confused for about three seconds, then went ahead and laughed a little with me at his completely unintentional use of words. "It's pleasant to have you smile again." He said after I regained my serious face.

"Yeah, it's…" I had no idea how to finish that, so I ended up looking at him in the very little light and smiling, not really sure if he could see it. But he did, and he smiled too, a small, genuine smile that made my body feel like it was on a roller-coaster and I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He grabbed my hand, eyes looking almost black in the dark room and started playing with my fingers. He always seem to do that, play with everything he could put his hands on when he wanted to speak to me or ask me something.

"Will you stay?" Again the roller-coaster sensation. His question seemed so innocent, but the way he entwined his fingers with mine and the long part hopeful part indecipherable look he gave me made my mind roam to other things. It was a bad idea, staying here with him, it would only make things worse for me when he'll leave. _I'll get hurt if I stay, I know it. Anything could happen if I stay. _

"Sure."

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_I'll be uploading very very slow and I'm sorry, but school and exams and absolutely no time to write anything and just ugh..._


	14. Chapter 14

I was first introduced to S.H.I.E.L.D. when I was four years old. Of course, at that age I didn't know about the agency or what it was doing or what they were doing investigating a fire that devastated a small orphanage on the outskirts of a small town. Of course it wasn't a coincidence or an accident, as the rest of the world thought, or S.H.I.E.L.D.'s current director wouldn't have come to investigate it. And what he found in that day would change both our lives permanently.

My memories from that time are poor and I'm still not sure if some are real or not. Of course, I remember how terrified I was, I remember the heat and the screams and the smoke that choked me and filled my lungs. I remember the running and the darkness. They're still vivid, all of them, playing in my head from time to time like scenes from a bad filmed movie.

I was the only survivor. The two kids and the kitchen lady that escaped the fire died later at the hospital. I don't know if it was fate or pure luck or if someone up there took care of me, but I managed to escape just because I was hungry that evening and I was sneaking down in the kitchen to have some muffins. After that, it all kind of becomes a blur. Screams and heat and fire and smoke and running, a lot of running and more screaming and crying near a large tree.

That's how director Fury found me, sitting near a tree, in the dark, shaking and crying my eyes out. He took me to the hospital, made sure I was taken care of and then left, only to come back after a few days and take me to his house. All my documents were lost in the fire, so I practically didn't even exist before he changed my name and became my legal tutor. He later said to me that the reason he took me in was because I remembered him of himself, and it took me a long time before I understood that.

I had a relatively normal childhood after that, and the traumatic experience I went through was slowly fading away. Of course, I never really got to see director Fury that much, since he was always at the base or on the field, but people were checking me almost every day to make sure I was okay and fed and clean. That's how I met Phil. He was always sent to check on me in the first two years that I spent at Nick Fury's house. He was also the one that discovered my eidetic memory, since he was basically the only person besides director Fury that I saw more than two times. I can't really remember what I told him that day, but he was so shocked he convinced Fury to let the S.H.E.I.L.D. psychiatrists to do some tests on me. They discovered that I had an exceptional memory, even at that young age, and with some practice I could basically recall anything that I heard or seen.

By that time the mysterious council that ran S.H.I.E.L.D. already had knowledge about me, but when they found out about my eidetic memory, it was decided that I start training immediately. I found later from here and there that director Fury had threatened the entire council if they ever did this to me, but the council had the last decision.

At some point, S.H.I.E.L.D. saw the benefits of taking young children and training them to become the perfect agents. Of course, that plan never worked. Not because the children were too small or unprepared, but because in their first field mission they were completely taken aback. They never had field experience before that, and even though they were highly trained, they didn't make it. All six of them died. After that, S.H.I.E.L.D. gave up that idea.

But at my seventh birthday, I was taken to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base to become the seventh child that the agency wanted to train to become the perfect agent. Only this time, they weren't going to focus on team work.

Most of the agency didn't even know about that. It was all kept a secret, and the rest of the agents only knew me as director Furys adopted child, spending time at the base because I had no one to stay with at home. My records were never put in the computer and Fury and the council were the only ones that had access to them.

By the time I was nine, I had already completed six missions and helped caught an entire network of black market organ sellers. At 12, I was diagnosed with Hyperthymesia, a condition that made me capable of remembering everything that happened in every day of my life since I was 10. After that, they started to train me for espionage field missions, making me their best spy. At 17 I was already their best field agent, taking missions that took a long time to manage, spending weeks and months working on them all over the world, all this while having every secret file that S.H.I.E.L.D. had in my head, memorized to punctuation. I was their best computer and I was also their fastest way to be destroyed if I even decided to go berserk. Of course, they knew that and for that they mostly let me do as I pleased, the only one that actually had any kind of authority before me being director Fury. And I couldn't betray him.

I was mostly a quiet child. Unlike other agents, I had limited to no experience with teenage problems, so when I hit puberty, everything collapsed inside me, making me experience every human emotion in less than 10 minutes at a time. I became unstable, I wasn't allowed in the field for almost a year and in all that time I was under medical supervision and seeing six psychiatrists at once. I had to learn to clear my head from any emotion, I had to learn to hide them and to act like I was made of stone on the outside, I had to bottle everything up with absolutely no idea when I will become so full I would explode. I had to suck it up, because those people didn't care about my problems, they only wanted me to get better already so I could return to my missions.

About that time I met agent Barton, and with his and Phils efforts I managed to somehow pass all those tests and return to field. After one year Clint brought agent Romanoff to S.H.I.E.L.D., and impressionable 14-year-old me viewed her as the perfect role-model. So I made everything in my power to become like her, to detach myself and always appear calm and in control. I knew it worked when some of the agents I had no connection with started to describe me as a "bossy, sarcastic little asshole", but surprisingly, I was never offended by them. I was just content that I could spend the little free time I had with Phil and Clint and Natasha, and have dinners with director Fury. I was happy, well, most of the time.

I didn't know why I remembered all that in that night. It was supposed to be special, or I imagined it would be. He asked me to stay with him, so I did. I got in bed with him and he gently took me in his arms, holding me close, playing with my hair, his slow breath hot on my face. His temperature was back to normal now, and it felt so good to have a warm body next to me after so much time. I kissed his cheek as a 'goodnight' and he turned his head and brushed his lips slowly against mine. He put his head on mine, giving my hand a tight squeeze before falling asleep quickly, the two sleeping pills that I slipped in the tea I bought him finally taking effect.

The memories came like a wave, taking me away with them, like it always happened. The people who knew about my condition thought I was lucky, being able to remember everything, knowing that everything I saw or heard or tasted or smelled was there, in my head, safe and sound and probably forever staying there. They had no idea how hard it was for me to keep track of the present. The mention of a single word would trigger all those memories, would take me away and make me go through all my thoughts and everything that happened to me like a derailed train that had no intention of stopping anytime soon. It was horrible and the efforts I made every day to keep myself focused on discussions I had or on missions were exhausting.

Of course, after all this time, I manage to control them at some degree. I could stay focused for long periods of time by shutting all my memories behind mental doors, and only opening them when I needed information they retained. It became like a reflex now, shutting everything down when I was with other people. It made me feel normal.

And then, there were times like this, when I was so relaxed and at peace that every door opened and the memories flowed me, making me remember important things or small details or reviewing something that happened to me at some point. And at times like this, when I was all alone with my mind, with myself, I felt so weak and vulnerable, so fragile for not keeping my own past under control that I just wanted all of it to end. I wanted all to stop haunting me, stop bothering me. There were so many times that I thought it would be best just to end it all, that if I would get out of this place, of this world, it would all be fine and I would be at peace. I felt so many times that if I ended my own life, everything will be alright.

That was probably the reason fate decided to throw poor Loki in my way. A horrible decision you made, dear Fate, bringing Loki in my life. Putting two fools like ourselves together never ended well.

* * *

_I swear I have no idea what I'm doing anymore... oh well. Enjoy the happiness, while it lasts._


	15. Chapter 15

"Do you want to do something today?"

I was still in a daze after last night, and Loki preparing breakfast didn't really help clearing my head. He seemed in such high spirits that I begun feeling guilty about all the times I lied to him. I didn't knew the Loki from Asgard, I knew only bits and pieces about the mad Loki, but it seemed to me that this was a new him. He seemed content and happy where he was, probably living the moment because he knew he couldn't stay. But still, it made me incredibly happy that he seemed fine now. He even offered to make sandwiches for breakfast, so I figured since he was in such a good mood, we could go and do something.

He gave me a quick look, smiling a little as he lowered his eyes back on the table full of everything that previously was in the fridge.

"May I ask what you have in mind?"

"Ah… I don't really know." I paused for a bit, thinking about what he could possibly enjoy. "I thought you wanted to… I don't know, go out or something?" I looked at his hands that were moving slow, but with some confidence. I couldn't really believe he made any kind of food in his life, so he probably was reconstructing from memory my movements, putting everything he could in those sandwiches.

"I will take a wild guess here and say you don't have horses, right?" I didn't really figure out if he was joking or not, but judging by his smile, he already knew the answer. "I'm sorry, I don't think there are any horses hiding around my house." I said to him with a smile. "Although we could go for a walk in the forest. It's beautiful this time of the year." From what I knew from Thor, Asgard was a very different place compared to Earth, but we had some common elements, and forests were one of them, so I figured it would be the closest thing to Lokis home around here.

"Of course, if you'd like. We could go." He went to the fridge and got the ketchup. "How much would you like?" I made him a sign when it was enough, and he put the plate with the gigantic sandwich in front of me. "Voilà!"

I laughed a little at him. "You speak French?"

"Un peu, oui." He laughed at my surprised face. "I have many talents."

"Je n'ai aucun doute." I winked at him and took a bite of the sandwich, chewing it happily. "It actually tastes good. You managed to surprise me again."

"You too."

I laughed a little again. "With what?" He was chewing on his sandwich, so I took a guess. "My French?" He just nodded and I smiled, more to myself.

"I work for the world's greatest spies agency. I speak 12 languages fluently and I can make light conversation in a few others." He looked a little impressed, but didn't say anything. "Well, thank you for the meal. I'll go take a shower and then we can go." I vanished from the kitchen before he could say anything.

* * *

"You were right, the forest is beautiful."

We were outside the house, in what most people would call a yard, but since the house didn't have any fences, it was just outside. It was a beautiful Sunday, with the birds chirping and just a bit of a breeze coming from the forest. I brought out the table tennis table I had in the basement and I explained Loki how it worked. Of course, at first I laughed at him, but now he seemed to get it right and he was actually leading the game.

"You missed! That's one for me!" I cheered while I went to get the small ball.

A rumbling noise started to grow in intensity. Loki looked up confused, and then back at me as I raised my shoulders at him. I tried to seem as calm as possible, but my stomach was twisting a little too much for me to be comfortable. After all, it was already Sunday, I was expecting someone from the base to show up here soon to take him anyway. Thor probably already knew about his brother and was waiting for him in New York.

That was it. Loki was going back to Asgard and it made me sad. I wasn't angry or hurt, just sad. I never thought I'd get attached to an emotionally unstable Norse god that tried to take our planet, but here I was, sadness taking over me because I didn't get to spend more time with him, that he never got to trust me enough and we never got to see where this would have led us to. _Geez, what's with me and suicidal idiots? _

The helicopter landed not far from the house, in a small clearing made especially for that. Lokis eyes followed me, but I didn't dare to look at him.

Phil came out of the forest, looking impeccable as ever, even having his sunglasses on. I was sure I giggled a little at him, and then went straight into his open arms, hugging him as hard as I could.

"Hey hey there! Whoa, now that's what I call a hug!" he managed somehow to say as he was patting my back. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, pretty good." He took a quick glimpse over my shoulder and then focused back on me, one of his eyebrows raised questionably. "Are you really?" Good old Phil, always knowing when something was wrong with me. "I'm fine, geez." He put his hands up, shaking his head and smiling. "Fine, good, just don't get defensive."

"Hello again." Phil's tone was polite and he was even smiling a little, though his eyes were stern as he looked at Loki. The Norse god seemed mildly shocked by Phils appearance, and for a while we just stood there in silence, the two of them just staring at each other and me looking from one to the other.

"We should go inside." I proposed, trying to sound cheery. "I'll make coffee. C'mon let's go."

We settled at the kitchen table, me and Phil with a cup of coffee in front of us and Loki with a cup of mint tea. That only made me think that my tea supplies were getting low, and that I should go shopping soon but then I remembered that he would leave today. _No point in buying tea then. I don't even like it that much_.

"I have some news for you." Phil was looking at his cup, so I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to Loki or both of us. Probably with both of us, since we were standing next to each other across from him. "Good or bad?" I found myself asking.

"Mostly bad." He took a sip of his coffee and then put his arms on the table, giving us a tired look. "Thor hasn't come here yesterday."

Panic started taking over me as I continued to look at Phil. He seemed so tired, with the small wrinkles around his eyes becoming more visible. I also took a quick glance at Loki, who was genuinely confused by Phils' words. He didn't change a bit, not even a trace of growing old. Even the bags under his eyes were barely visible now that he was rested and safe. He looked exactly as he did six years ago and it frightened me a little, without even knowing why.

"So?" I found myself asking. "It's not the first time he's missing."

"We haven't heard from him for three weeks."

This was bound to get me worried. Thor came on Earth every month, and we always had news from him because he was always sending messengers to either Jane or the Stark Tower. It was unusual, no news for almost a month… Something was very wrong in Asgard, but I didn't dare say my thoughts aloud.

"You believe something is wrong with my brother?" It was the first time Loki spoke since Phil got here, and I could tell he was concerned.

"We can't be sure until we don't get any news from him. We're…" He stopped and looked at me and I nodded that he could continue. We had no right to keep information about his brother away from him. "We're actually working on a way to contact him. Miss Foster failed to get access into Asgard."

"What? How? Jane's been there quite a few times, how come she couldn't get in?" Things were really starting to get bad. "Apparently your gatekeeper didn't respond."

"Let me try."

"NO!"

Two pairs of eyes set on me, both looking shocked by my reaction. I took a deep breath and then spoke again, my voice back to normal.

"You can't go there, not while we have no idea what's happening there." I put a hand on his leg, making sure Phil didn't see me. "If Jane couldn't go there, then…" I didn't continue my thought since he knew what I was implying. He nodded and then got up and walked out of the kitchen back to my bedroom.

"He's upset. I'm impressed." Phil seemed amused by this, probably thinking that now I have Loki at my command. "Don't be. He's going to throw a tantrum later."

"Well, good luck with that. I'd better go, hope I reach the base before all this stars." He said and made a small hand gesture indicating the window and I was surprised to see the sky was getting darker. "Great, a storm." Phil came and gave me a quick hug. "Take care. We'll let you know as soon as we have news." The helicopter was gone five minutes later.

When I went into my bedroom, Loki was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the window and his back facing me. I stood a while in the door, just watching him, tracing the outline of his body, studying his back muscles and the way his shoulders were in a slightly bent position since he was sitting with his elbows on his thighs. I imprinted that imagine in my head, just have it like that, him sitting there worrying about his home and the people he cared about.

He didn't move when I went and stood next to him.

"You're worried."

"Yes."

"It will be fine."

Even I didn't believe my words.

I took his hand and looked at him. His eyebrows were furred, eyes closed and his mouth was closed firmly. The, surprising me, he put his forehead on my shoulder, making me tense up a bit.

"Say it again." Not an order, not a demand. A plead. I hugged him, making him change his position a bit to put his arms around me.

"It will be fine."

He hugged me even harder.

* * *

We spent the afternoon in my bed. After our little hug session, I went and made us more tea, and we just got in bed and stood like that, drinking the tea and holding hands. I didn't knew why it was so comforting, but it felt right. We knew there was someone there, besides us, for us, who somehow we trusted and who understood us. At least that was what I was thinking. I asked him to describe Asgard to me and I stood for half an hour without saying a word, looking outside the window but listening to his every word, sometimes squeezing his hand and sometimes smiling at him to assure him that I was still there. I didn't think he noticed though, he seemed so lost in his story. So I just stood there.

After another period of silence, I fell asleep. When I woke up, Loki was still beside me, in the exact same position I left him.

"I'll go make us something to eat, okay?"

"Sure."

I made quickly some sandwiches, even though I wasn't hungry and I was sure he wouldn't eat. I put them on a tray along with some apples and more tea and started heading back to the bedroom when I heard the phone ring. I let the tray on the small nightstand and ran for the phone.

"Huh." Loki gave me a questioning look as I stood in the doorway with the ringing phone in my hand. "It says number unknown."

"Hello?" Silence was the only thing there.

"Hello?" More silence. Then a word. Clic.

The phone dropped and my heart stopped.

"Seven? What is it?" Loki was already next to me, his hand grabbing mine.

"What is it? Who was it?" I managed to mutter an "I don't know".

"What did that person say?"

He was actually worried about me. He actually looked shocked. I still wonder what my face looked like at that time.

"My name."

After that, it all went black.

* * *

_Well, I have an ankle sprain and have to stay home the whole week sooo... yeah new chapter and look! there's actually a plot._


	16. Chapter 16

I lost any track of time or space I had when I fell. It was just darkness and silence and a sweet scent that surrounded me. Was it day? Was it night? Was I dreaming? Was I awake?

Was I dead?

I couldn't be. Why would I sense the sweet scent if I was dead? I couldn't really believe they had sweet scents in the afterlife. Maybe I was in Heaven? Neah, I ruined too many lives. Maybe Hell? Then why wasn't I burning?

Then where was I?

A sound. Actually, more like an echo. It sounded as it came from all around me, but I couldn't hear what it was saying. I didn't know the voice, but it grew stronger and the words started to make sense. No, it was just a word. A word, playing in my ears with different tonalities, different accents, but the same voice that repeated it over and over again. My name.

I don't know how long that lasted. The voice faded eventually, until it was just an intelligible echo again. Then the darkness started to change, it became warmer and brighter…

"Seven?"

My room. My bed. The light was on, but the curtains were drawn. So it was still night. For some reason, my head was throbbing.

"How are you feeling?"

"What time is it?"

Loki was sitting on the edge of the bed, examining my face and my position to see if I was alright. Judging by the look on his face, I probably wasn't.

"It's almost 4." He handed me a cup. "Drink."

Mint tea. So this was the source of the sweet scent. I drank the barely warm tea quickly and put the cup on the nightstand, trying to avoid his eyes. It was an unsuccessful attempt since he took my hand and searched for my gaze, so I gave up and looked at him.

I didn't know what I was expecting to see. There was one thing that confused me about Loki, and that was the fact that even though he kept his face straight, his eyes were still talking. His eyes always had something to say, something to show. They were fascinating, and I definitely wasn't the first one to notice it. How many people had fallen victims of those eyes? And how many people failed to see all the feelings and words that they possess, but try to hide?

We stared at each other for a long time. I read once in a psychology book that when a person is trying to get close to you, he's mimicking your expressions and gestures. I wasn't sure of my facial expressions, but Loki's' face went from worry to disapproval, to anger, to relative calmness and then back to worry and pity and understanding and a little fear, all this while his eyes never left my face.

He was the first to speak.

"Tell me what happened." A simple request.

"It was a man's voice. I didn't recognize it. It was… he only said one word and then hung up." I needed to think about it. It was a man's voice, that was clear. A man who knew my name and my phone number, and there were only two persons in the entire world who knew both, and those were director Fury and Phil. This was a complete stranger, a person I've probably never seen before and definitely never heard them speak. So, what were the chances that one of those two would betray me? Definitely on the negative side.

Then how did this stranger found out my phone number and my name?

_This is going to end bad, I feel it._

"Your name?" I nodded and Loki looked at me a little concerned and also curious. "That made you fell unconscious?" Well, when he said it like that, it sounded very… I don't know, childish.

"I don't think you get the bigger picture here." He raised one eyebrow and gave me a little arrogant look that just screamed "you think?" in a very sarcastic tone and I made a motion with my hand for him to stop. "He said my real name. My birth name, the one that my biological parents gave me. There are only two persons in the whole world who know that name, and neither of them made that phone call. So it's a mystery who this man is, and I need to find out as soon as possible."

"But why are you so upset that he knows of your name?"

I sighed, knowing that I was wasting precious time explaining this to him. "Look, just get dressed and I'll explain on the way." He looked a little panicked when I got out of bed and to my wardrobe to get some clothes. "May I ask where are we heading to?"

"We need to go to the base."

I left the room in a hurry and then had to go back for the phone, and I had to admit to myself that the shirtless Loki I saw in my bedroom made me feel better for a bit. But only for a bit. After that, I phoned the base and luckily for me, Natasha was the one who picked up.

"Hey, could you send out a jet now? I need to speak to director Fury at once and it's important." I managed to change my jeans while keeping the phone between my face and my shoulder.

"What did Loki do? Do I need to send troops there?" Natasha sounded a little out of breath, a clear sign that I interrupted her very mutational morning training. "No, no, we're fine. But he's coming too. Sent the jet and I'll explain at the base."

"Fine, but you'll wake Fury up when you get here. You know how he is." And with that, she hung up.

Loki entered the kitchen just as I finished changing my clothes. He was anxious to know why I was acting like this and judging by his composure, I presumed he was also a little nervous about going back to the helicarrier that held him prisoner six years ago. I turned off the lights in the whole house, except the front hall and I threw him Clint's jacket after I put my shoes on. I checked all the windows, just to be sure, because I didn't know what to expect from that mystery man and after I locked the front door and set all three security systems, I told him to follow me and then started my story.

"Nick Fury found me when I was four years old. I was an orphan, living in a foster care outside a small town. There was a fire and I was the only one that made it out alive. Director Fury adopted me. The thing is, I lost everything I had in that fire, every document, every proof that I existed, and everyone that knew me was dead. So he took me in, provided new documents and got rid of every trace of my former identity. Basically, I never existed until he adopted me."

"And after all that, this mysterious character knew your birth name."

"Exactly. Of course, my real documents still exist, buried somewhere deep down in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archive room, but they're still there. Of course, the real me was declared deceased in the fire. I know my biological parents are dead, but besides that and some trivia I found out through the years, I didn't really want to have anything to do with them. After all, I was dead. And now…"

I took a deep breath, the cool morning air and the scent of the forest invading my nose. It was pretty chilly outside, after all it wasn't even five in the morning, so I tightened my jacket around me, trying to force my body not to shiver. When I looked at Loki, his gaze was far away, looking at the forest but somehow looking through it and I wondered why he didn't seem affected by the weather, after all he was wearing only a shirt and a jacket that wasn't even that thick.

"Aren't you cold?"

His lips went up in a small half-smile that made him look like he had a secret. "You get accustomed with a certain degree of coolness when you're like me."

I laughed a little at him. "But you're human now." His head made a small motion to a side, and somehow that gesture made him look even more human. "Still…" He didn't finish the sentence, instead he looked down at me, trying to smile but failing miserably.

I took his hand. "It's going to be fine, you'll see." He said something, I was sure of it, but the noise of the helicopter covered his words. The whole trip to the base was quiet, Natasha coming herself to get us.

"Phil! You're up early!" I greeted the agent when we entered the base. "Well, some of us aren't on vacation here." He said back, turning to give a young man some instructions. "But why are you here?" He took a quick look at Loki. "We couldn't get anything from Thor."

"I have something to discuss with you and director Fury. He's still not up?" That was odd since he was always up at 5 am. That, of course, when he managed to sleep the night. "In the office. I'll see you there in a bit." We headed for the main office, Fury's favorite place to stay. He didn't turn when we entered, instead he told Natasha to go and get Clint and he told us to sit.

"Agent Seven." He threw Loki a suspicious glance, and after that ignored him. "What's so important that you risked bringing him here?" I didn't answer until everyone was in the room, just so I wouldn't have to say the story twice.

"I got a phone call yesterday evening, 9.47 pm. Unknown caller, unknown man. He only said one word." Deep breath. "My name." Phil cleared his throat and, a usual thing when he was thinking, looked at the floor. Director Fury turned his back on us to look on the window again. Clint and Natasha exchanged a somehow worried look. They knew the story, just as Loki did, but they didn't know my real name.

After a short silence, the director was the first to speak. "How many people know agent's Seven real purpose on this base?" Phil answered after he mentally counted. "There are eight agents, three psychologists, the medical examiner, the Avengers, us, and the Council, of course." Fury took a quick look at Loki and then at me, and knowing what he was implying I nodded my head as a "no". "And how many of these people can we trust?"

Well, that was an interesting question. "Eight." Just as I expected.

"Search them. Trace the phone call. I want this mystery man." Short and strict, definitely Nick Fury's style.

"Sorry to interfere, but why are you so sure it has anything to do with someone from the base?" Clint's questions made the room silent again. This time though, Phil was the one who answered. "You're implying that someone outside the base, meaning someone from agent's Seven past, found out about her?"

"That's highly improbable."

"Why?"

"Because my biological parents are dead since I was three and I have no other relatives alive. So unless someone "from my past" had access to highly classified base information, I don't believe that it has to do with someone from outside."

"I guess that makes sense." Clint raised his shoulders.

"Agent Coulson, please see that this mystery caller is caught." After that, Fury turned to me and Loki. "Thank you for informing us. I think you can go back now."

We all raised from our places, ready to go, when Loki spoke for the first time since we got to the base.

"The Bifrost." We all turned to look at him, but he pointed at the window. A giant tower of light could be seen in the distance, ending somewhere on the land, the multitude of colors making it look like a very straight rainbow.

"Looks like you got your news from Asgard."

* * *

_I'm experimenting a little, so yeah... Thoughts?_


	17. Chapter 17

It was decided that we remain on base. Natasha called Tony, waking him up, and announced him that Thor would probably drop there soon enough and that they were expected at the base as soon as possible. This probably wasn't going to end well since, except for Clint and Natasha, the rest of the team didn't know about Loki being here.

"This is going to be fun." I muttered mostly to myself, but the Norse god gave me a questioning look. "Who wants coffee?" I offered loudly, just to keep Loki from staring at me. We were still in director Fury's office, and with Phil gone and Natasha off to change from her training clothes, I felt the need to leave the room, if only for a bit. Clint raised his hand a little, and since I didn't see any cup on Fury's desk, I assumed he didn't drink his either. I looked at Loki with an eyebrow raised and, after a short moment of confusion, he muttered a little "yes, please", so I was off.

I went down on the corridor to the kitchenette that I knew wasn't far away. Director Fury's personal office was at the beginning of a corridor that only held the so-called bedrooms for the most important people. I heard some of the agents call it "the VIP section", when I was also one of the people who slept here. Nick Fury, Natasha, Clint, Phil and Maria all had small bedrooms on this corridor, the furthest door being the one from my own room from when I stayed here.

It didn't take me long to make the coffees, but when I got back in the office I knew it took me long enough for Clint and Loki to bicker a little. Since director Fury didn't change his place at the window, I assumed it was just something minor, judging by Clint's annoyed face and Loki's cocky smile. I gave everyone their cup and then took my place back beside Loki on the small leather couch. Natasha came back not long after, and so we were sitting there in silence, waiting for the others to show up.

It was pretty obvious when they arrived, since Thor's voice could be heard from the main room.

"We must speak with Master Fury immediately!"

Suddenly the room seemed too small. I got up and placed myself in front of Loki so he wouldn't be visible right away. There was enough space for all of us, but being in the room with all the Avengers was fairly intimidating. The door opened and I felt Lokis' hand touching my foot for a second. _Showtime! _

"Master Fury!" Thor greeted, and for a second I didn't recognize him. His hair, who he mostly kept tied when he visited Earth, was a complete mess, his armor dirty and cape ripped and pierced. I was sure that if I turned to look at Loki, his face would be a perfect replica of mine: surprised, incredulous and scared. "I bring you disastrous information! Asgard is under attack!"

"Loki?!"

Silence. All eyes in the room were now focused behind me, and I considered for a second if I should move or not. But Thor was the one who decided, since he pushed me away with a little too much force and stared at his brother baffled. If Tony would have kept his mouth shut for a little while… But it was doomed to happen.

"Brother?!" I thought it was safe to assume that every person in the room held their breath, waiting for Thor's reaction. Loki was looking at his brother with so many emotions flickering on his face that I gave up trying to figure them out.

But then they hugged, and Thor completely relieved expression puzzled me, and probably everyone in the room."I cannot believe my eyes! You're alive!"

And after that the madness started, with Tony being the first to speak.

"What's reindeer games doing here? I thought he was in prison for God's sake!"

"We all did, Tony. But seems Thor has some explaining to do." Our small gathering had all its eyes focused on the two brothers, the older completely ecstatic and jubilant, and the younger baffled and somehow relieved.

"I will do my explaining, friends, but only what I have knowledge of. After that, my brother has to do his own." Loki nodded, and the room waited. "I admit that I mislead you, and I am truly sorry for that, but Loki was not always in our jail. Almost two years ago, we had to trade him to the Jotuns, to assure peace for our realm as well as all the others. We had no other choice." Thor didn't look at his brother while he talked.

"After that, I was at the mercy of the Frost Giants." He gave me a quick glance and I nodded for him to continue. "Until seven days ago, when I somehow woke up on Midgard."

"So", Dr. Banner spoke for the first time, "you woke up on Earth and you have no idea how. Or why."

"Yes."

"Oh come on! You actually believe this guy?" Tony turned to director Fury who was still looking at all of us with an incredulous expression. "You two knew about this?" He turned to Clint and Natasha, but they didn't make any movement, which Stark probably took as a "yes". "Great, Lady Macbeth is back in town and nobody cares to tell us!"

"He was under supervision the whole time, Stark."

"Oh really? And why is he here now? Couldn't you keep him in the cage?"

"Friends, friends! Please!" Thor's voice made the room silent. "My brother is not of importance for you right now! I came here on such late time because Asgard is under attack and I fear that Midgard might be next!"

"Again?" Steve's voice was heard and then everyone started talking at the same time, muttering and "are you serious?"s filling the room. Director Fury managed to get us all to shut up and sit down, making Thor a sign to start talking.

"A delegation from Jotunheim came to Asgard not long ago to demand a meeting with the Allfather. They accused us of helping Loki escape and hiding him. We told them that we did not know Loki ran and that we haven't heard of him, but they didn't believe us, of course. Their new king… They left in peace, but then attacked Asgard, taking us by surprise." Thor paused a little to look at his brother. "We defeated them, but they sworn that they will find Loki whatever it takes. I believe they are heading to Midgard, so I have come to warn you."

He let the information sink, and for a while the only sound in the room was our breathing.

"How long can you remain here?" Fury asked Thor. "As long as it is necessary. We already prepared for another battle. My warriors await only one sign from me to come and help." The director nodded in agreement. "All of you, in the main room. Not you, Seven. Him neither."

I waited for the other to get out. Clint gave me a pat on the shoulder and Natasha a little encouraging nod, while the other Avengers looked at me with a curious expression on their face. Tony winked at me and held his hand up, signing me to phone him. I managed to give him a half smile. Thor stayed with us, arms stubbornly crossed and waiting with a stern expression while Loki placed himself behind me.

"Seven, you're taking Loki and head back to your house. It's safest there and I leave him in your protection." Thor made a protest noise, and Fury turned to him. "Your brother was in agent Seven's care until now, and will stay there. I don't think he will be welcomed on your planet that much and he can't be of much help here. These Frost Giants are our priority now, your little family busyness can be solved later."

"Why?" I knew what he was thinking, but I still asked, just to be sure.

"You can't help us here. And someone has to look out for him." I felt Loki shifting a little behind me but I managed not to smile. He was obviously upset he had to be taken care for. "Also you can't stay on base, I don't need any more tension than this. Don't worry, you'll be in permanent contact with us. I'll explain the whole thing to them later." He motioned for us to get out, but before we headed for the platform, he grabbed my hand and whispered me to be careful. I nodded and then interrupted Thor and Loki's brotherly moment by dragging Loki after me and telling Thor that they'll see each other soon enough.

I had to go and look for a pilot and everyone staring at Loki didn't help me either. I had to get back to the main room, find Maria, ask her for the available pilots, look at the list to see if I flew with any of them before, find one I flew with before and then go and look for him, all this while Loki was following me around like a lost puppy, without even saying a word. When I finally found David, we had to wait for him to finish his coffee and make a phone call. By the time we got into the helicopter, director Fury and the Avengers were in a meeting for over half an hour.

"Everything ready?" David asked, and I checked my and Lokis' safety belts to see if everything was fine. "Yeah it's good."

"Great, put the masks on and we're ready to go." We did as he told us, and I finally felt relieved that I could go home. The whole world being at war again just made me sleepy.

Loki's screams were the last thing I remembered.


	18. Chapter 18

When the man in the custom made suit turned on the light, the young woman was already awake. He studied her for a while, not saying a word, while she didn't take her eyes from him. 'She looks extremely awake for someone who has just been drugged' he thought, and then got closer to the chair she was tied up, his eyes never leaving her frame.

"Well hello, young lady."

She didn't even blink at his words, but her fist tensed when she recognized the voice. She took a deep breath to calm down and started thinking about every procedure she learned through the years. She couldn't escape, not now, she didn't have any information about where she was, but if she played her cards well…

"Who the hell are you?!" She tried to shift in her chains, but they didn't allow her to move more than a few centimeters.

_Act panicked. Act scared, don't let them see you're calm._

"I asked you something!" She said again, her voice higher than usual. The man only laughed a little and started going in circles around her. He was bigger than her, but he moved slowly, and even though he was sure of his steps, she knew she could take him on if she could get out of the chains. But the first thing she needed was information.

"You've got quite the temper, miss… No, your name's Fury now." He paused a little to see if she was reacting at his words, but her angry expression only made him clench his jaw. "Or well, it was, since you're so conveniently dead." Her fist tensed again.

"You did your research, good for you." She needed to change her tactic, make him let his guard down. Make him say things. "And since you know who I am, it's only for fairness that you should tell me who you are." He was acting fancy, and so could she. _This game can be played by two._

His laugh echoed in the hollow room, but he stopped in front of her, taking his hat off and making a reverence. "You can just call me John." It was for only a few seconds, but she managed to get a good look at his face. Probably in his early 40s, even though his wrinkles showed that he's been through enough. His hair was a dirty blonde, but his sideburns were already gray and the metallic shade of his eyes made her think about a documentary about snakes that she watched not long ago with…

"Where's the man that was with me?" She demanded, real panic starting to rise. She could handle this if she was alone, but when they drugged her Loki was with her. She checked her hands, being really glad now that they were tied behind her back so that John couldn't see them, and she found that she still had her ring on. She had no idea where she was or how long had passed since she was drugged. She left in a helicopter, so she could be on another continent by now. The ring was connected to a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites, but if the building was protected, there were slim chances of them finding her.

"Oh, don't worry about him my dear." His eyes flickered a little to his right side. "He has been quite the company." His reassuring smile only made her sick.

"What do you want?" She spat, starting to lose her patience. The faster the man left her alone, the faster she could think of an escaping plan. He ignored her, starting to walk around her chair again.

"How are your parents, dear?" She raised her eyebrows, his question obviously taking her aback. "My parents?"

"Yes, your parents. Your biological parents, to be precise."

"As they always are. Dead." She studied his face carefully, and noted the genuine surprise that appeared. "Really? Maybe that what they want you to think." He said, a hint of hope in his voice. She waited for him to get in her visual ray again before she answered. "Or maybe they're actually dead since I saw how they scattered on the road when the truck hit them."

The man's jaw clenched again, but he rearranged his posture, hands behind his back, and smiled at her again, even though his eyes seemed like two ice cubes.

"Such a pity. They were so young."

"Well, what can you do, right?"

He grimaced a little, just for a second, and then got closer to her. A gloved hand touched her cheek gently, and she forced herself to stay in place. "You look so much like your mother." He let her go, and her eyes followed him again curiously. He knew her parents, but he didn't know how they died, or at least he pretended not to know. "Though," he continued, "I believe you got your temper from _him._" He spat the last word, and that made her wonder even more.

"Are we related?" She knew all her possible relatives were dead. She researched that. Both her parents were single children to their parents. Her grandparents from her fathers' side died when he was still in high school, and her grandparents from her mothers' side died a little after she was born, just a month apart, and they barely got to see their first and only grandchild. One of her grandmas' had a sister, but she died almost 10 years ago without any children, and she knew she had a second cousin who was with the marines, but he went missing three years ago and after that nobody heard of him. Only his mother was alive, but the poor woman never heard that she had a niece. This couldn't be her cousin, he was way too old for that. But then again, she knew she got the looks from her mother, but her father had light colored hair. And she also knew how messy families could get.

While she was making her mental recap of her relatives, the man started laughing again. "Oh dear God, no!" He took a deep breath and tried to stop, but small giggles kept escaping his lips while he talked. "No, no dear, that's not possible."

"Then why are you so interested in me and my parents, if I may ask?"

"You ask such interesting things, my dear!" What did this man want with her? Obviously not information about S.H.I.E.L.D., but that was probably because he already had men inside. It was the only way he could've found out about her.

He was about to start talking again when a knock was heard. After an annoyed "yes" from the man, a voice behind the door said that "He wants to talk to you right now, sir". John looked down, the woman eyes still following his every move, and after a short pause, he looked back at her and smirked.

"Bring him in."

After a minute, the door opened and the Norse god walked into the almost empty room, a smirk on his face, barely looking at the young woman. She was surprised, well, she was more than that, she was completely shocked by the fact that Loki was free and walking around like he owned the place.

"I hope you have thought about my generous offer, my dear John." The god said, his posture more relaxed than ever. "Because that little bird isn't going to chirp anytime soon." He continued and made a motion with his head in the direction of the prisoner.

The man's smile faded a little. "I'm afraid you're right. Though I must admit she wasn't unwilling to talk." Both men looked at her and she felt her blood boil.

"Loki, _what the hell?!_" She shifted again in her chains, but it wasn't any good. Panic started to rise again, and anger along with betrayal. She didn't want to believe this, not now. But the god's sarcastic laugh only made her stomach get tighter. He made his way towards her while the other man looked at them carefully.

"It's a pity really." Loki said and he bent in front of her smiling, their eyes being almost at the same level due to their height difference. "I kind of liked you. But I need to do anything I can in order to survive." He put his hand on her tight. "And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s offer wasn't quite as generous as others." He now patted her tight and then got up, touching her cheek a little while he did that.

"_You bastard_!" She felt betrayed. "I trusted you!" She felt angry and lost and abandoned. It was a miracle she managed to keep her tears.

"I know, my dear. Good thing you did." He put his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Now, shall we discuss business?"

They left without saying another word to her. The moment the door was locked behind them, she let her tears fell free.

* * *

_Well, I certainly didn't expect that... _


	19. Chapter 19

_That bastard!_

I didn't even realize I was crying until the tears soaked the collar of my shirt. And even then I couldn't stop. I guess that's what happens if you keep too much things inside, once you start crying, you can't stop anymore. I went over the fact that _the little shit_ betrayed me. It was a shock at that moment, but even if it did still hurt, and probably will for a long time, I somewhat expected that. So, once I got over the "I-can't-believe-you-did-that-to-me" phase, and after the "I-can't-believe-I-actually-trusted-you" part, I still couldn't stop crying because

_Oh my God I'm not even 24 and I'm gonna die tortured in a warehouse of sorts I mean I love those people and I trust them but they'll never find me in time and this strange John that claims he knows my parents I don't even know who he is I've never seen his face before he wasn't on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s target list I'm not even sure he is a bad guy but he drugged me and tied me to a chair god-knows-where and oh! The things he could do to me right now he got me when I was vulnerable and he's got Loki and he betrayed me and I can't believe I trusted him oh God! Why did I do that? Strange men always coming in my life and this is what I get for being nice to them that's it I'm going to die and not even know what love is and I haven't told papa how much I love him for years I mean sure he knows but still and Clint and Natasha they wanted to have a child when they got out in a year or two and I'm never going to see him I hope it's a boy and they'll be awesome parents and oh god I'm never going to have a child I don't even know how to hold one why did my parents die what have they even do they didn't harm anyone and _

I couldn't stop it. My thoughts flowed and so were my tears and I couldn't stop for anything in the world. That was it, that was my breaking point. Years of training, gone in an instant because I couldn't control it, I couldn't control my brain from thinking too much. That was the gift that I've been given. Being able to remember everything, being able to just store so much information there, over-thinking was practically a requirement. Sometimes I wondered what would happen if I hit my head hard enough and in the right place to get a little amnesia. Maybe a permanent one. Would I still be able to remember everything after that, would my condition still persist? Or because I could remember everything I couldn't get amnesia?

But still, the most important question was what did this man want with me? And even more importantly, what would Loki know about what John wanted to know? If it was S.H.I.E.L.D. info, he couldn't get it from him. So, what did Loki proposed to him that was so interesting John would consider accepting his offer? Unless, of course, that man wasn't after information. But still, what could Loki have that would interest him? Probably power, a simple deduction. But Loki didn't have power, not anymore. He was completely human now.

The room was starting to get colder. It was probably time to have some fun with me, but after a few seconds the temperature was back to normal and my leg started itching. It wasn't even a true itch, it was more like there was something crawling, but from inside. I didn't hurt, but it felt strange, foreign. And then it started to concentrate on my thigh, exactly where Loki touched me the last time. I tried to not move while my jeans were discoloring and panic started to rise again. And then a word, no more than four seconds, on my jeans, and everything was back to normal. Like nothing ever happened.

**Wait. **

_Wait? Wait for what? What was even that? How? Why? It wasn't there before it never happened before __what the hell was that_

Loki.

It was the only possible explanation. In all the mythological stories I read, Loki was a master in magic. Thor confirmed that. But… he was human now. He was supposed to be human now. Unless…

_That little bitch._

I should have noticed earlier, but I never expected that. The possibility of him going back to normal never even entered my mind. But he was a Frost Giant, I should have suspected something when I woke up next to him and he was freezing. Well, that should teach me a lesson.

But waiting? For what? Well, it wasn't like I had anything better to do now, but wait until what? Until he came and rescued me, _if_ he didn't actually betray me?

_Yeah, right, like that's gonna happen. Sorry dear, but I'm out of here as soon as I can, with or without you._

* * *

_Two hours later…_

The door opened again, and John came in as nonchalantly as ever, the ever-so-present smile plastered on his face. When he got closer to the young woman, he noticed her eyes were closed, and his expression softened a little. But still he woke her up.

"Hello again, dear."

He didn't raise his voice, and she opened her eyes tiredly, barely keeping her head straight.

"Oh. You again."

Hoarse voice, troubled eyes, face redder that it was. He got a little closer to her, but she moved her head, shooting him an annoyed glare.

"What, your men got tired of watching me? Or did you finish your little business with that bastard?"

His smile was gone now and his eyebrows were frowning. He was concerned. She looked way better two hours ago, and now she looked like she had been in bed for two days with a hell of a cold. She looked feverish, but when he wanted to check her forehead, she moved away.

"Nobody's watching you." He tried again, but she moved, this time letting out painful moan. "You don't look very well."

"I'm fine."

"Do you want some water?" Maybe she was his prisoner, but he still needed her. She was valuable. If she got sick now, he wouldn't get what he needed from her. So for now, it was best to just be nice.

"… yes, please."

He left the room in a hurry and she knew this was it. This was her chance. She was ready.

When he came back with the glass of water, her eyes were still closed, but this time she opened them as soon as she heard the door. He went to her and held the glass close to her face, so she could drink. After she looked at the water suspiciously, and then at him a little reticent, she leaned forward as much as her handcuffs let her and drank the glass to the bottom. She coughed a little because she drank too fast and then looked at the man with a half heartedly gratitude.

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome, my dear."

Her hands flew from behind her back and caught his head, dragging it forward and right into her knee. A small cracking sound was heard and then a painful but weak moan and the man collapsed on the concrete floor. She got up from the metal chair she was tied to and checked him. She found a pistol tucked in his custom made pants and some keys. No wallet, nothing that could give her more information about the strange John that was now lying there with a broken nose and some teeth, and probably a small concussion. She managed to get him on the chair without much noise, basing herself on the fact that he said nobody was supervising her. Considering that nobody came to get her until now, he told her the truth.

She took his jacket and ripped a part of it, trying to make as little noise as possible. She found the keys from her handcuffs and opened them to tie him now to the chair. After she made sure he was well positioned, she tied the ripped part of his jacket over his mouth, just to make sure he wouldn't scream if she managed to get away.

Equipped now with his keys and pistol, she headed to the door. She leaned on her stomach next to the door and listened carefully in complete silence. She started counting, but no sound was heard. Making sure the keys were secured in her jeans' pocket so they wouldn't make any noise, she checked his gun.

_Damn, only a 5-round. Oh well, at least it's full._

Just to be sure, she ripped the lining of her jacket, just a little, to get out a knife that was hidden there. Years of being in the field taught her that no matter where she was going, it was best to have at least one weapon with her. She was actually quite surprised they left her jacket on her, but then again, there was nobody guarding the door from outside, so maybe they were still new to this whole kidnapping business.

_Showtime!_

* * *

_Please don't hurt me! But wow thank you all you don't know how happy I am that you people actually read and appreciate this story and just wow thank you very very much_

_I still wonder though where Loki's loyalty lies hmm..._


	20. Chapter 20

Since there was no light coming through under the door, I turned off the one in the room and got on my stomach again to listen. There was still no sound or movement, so I waited to get accustomed to the darkness and then opened the door carefully.

The corridor was colder than the room, but there was a small light bulb that illuminated it about 20 meters to the left, and it made the turn there visible. I thought about it for about 5 seconds before I decided to go right. _Where's light, there's usually people._ I just hoped I wouldn't get to a dead end. I congratulated myself for choosing to wear my comfortable and especially silent sneakers today rather that the boots I should have because of the storm.

There were several doors on both sides, but nothing that could give me a clue as to where I was. The building wasn't used now, obviously, and judging by the humid and moldy smell it was abandoned for quite a while. I decided it was best to just open a door and find some windows so I could get an idea about my surroundings. I just hoped I wasn't somewhere underground, because then my chances for an escape would diminish considerably.

_Great, I just attracted karma on me. I could bet my house I'm underground._

I opened the first door I reached, only a little. There wasn't any sound coming from inside, so I got in and closed it behind me. To my pleasant surprise, this one had two windows. I took a quick look around to make sure it was safe. Of course, there was no furniture, no nothing, only dust and something in a corner that I figured were some old newspapers. I headed to the windows.

Not so surprised this time, I discovered it was already night. The building was standing alone in a huge field, with no light coming from its surroundings. Probably some warehouse for grains or whatever they were planting on the fields. There was a road leading from the building through the field, but I couldn't see where it ended. Hopefully on a road that lead to a town with a phone, because that was my only chance of getting away. Judging from the height, I was at least at the first floor.

I got out on the corridor again and went ahead, the small light remaining further back and diminishing as I continued to advance in the darkness. I soon reached a dead end, but there was a staircase, so it wasn't that bad. The thing was, as I expected, there was light downstairs. I tried to calculate what my chances were. It was an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, probably a warehouse, and either way even if I was on the first floor, there were at least six meters to the ground. I wouldn't die from a jump like that, of course, but I thought that I might run faster from there if I didn't have any broken limbs. There was no light coming from upstairs, which probably meant there was nobody there, but which also meant that if I was cornered, I didn't have any escape, since that apparently was the last floor and I figured jumping from the rooftop would end up with a little more than just a few broken bones.

So my best chance right now was to follow the light.

_This should be fun._

I paused for a moment, just so I could rewind every spar and training I did with Natasha and Clint. I was a trained spy, not an assassin, and even though I knew how to kill someone with three well-placed hits, I couldn't take more than one person at a time. Which sucks. It never happens like in the movies, where the bad guys just form a circle around the hero and only go at him one at a time to ensure he kicks the hell out of them. No way for that. They don't even fight, if they have guns you can bet your ass they're going to us every bullet they have. If John had a gun, the others probably have guns too. Simple deduction. The fact that there were definitely others was a simple deduction too, since 1. These type of guys always need someone to do their dirty job and 2. Someone knocked at the door when Loki came to visit me.

So I took a deep breath and made my way downstairs as silently as I could. I had my back practically glued to the wall, gun ready to fire, as I inspected the corridor. It was identical to the one before, which meant it was only one way to go: left, right where the light came. I let myself on my toes and listened carefully. I heard some distant mumbles and footsteps, but just to be sure, I looked around the corner quickly. Four men, none looking in my direction, so I took another glance, this time letting my eyes absorb every detail they could. I didn't recognize any of them, and they all seemed capable of putting a good fight. Not to mention that even though there was no gun in plain sight, that didn't mean they didn't have any.

Since they were so far away from me, I figured there was another way to go upstairs than the staircase here. Probably another staircase, or who knows, maybe a lift. There was no exit visible from where I was standing, but there were again doors on both sides of the corridor. I thought about going in one of the rooms for about three seconds before I cast that thought away. My best chance was to distract them so they would go upstairs. Then I'll have enough time to find the exit, which I was sure should be close, since the windows from the room upstairs showed clearly the front of the building.

As I was thinking of ways to distract them, one turned around and came right in my direction. I quickly got up from my place and went back up as fast and quietly as possible as his footsteps approached. Calming my breath, I hid in the relative darkness of the staircase, waiting for the man to come. Instead, I heard a door close and then silence. I went back and took a quick peek, and the man that I thought was heading straight for me wasn't anywhere to be seen, leaving only three of them there. Hope rose as I went back up and straight for the room with the windows.

The forth man was outside, just as I hoped for. He had a cigarette in his hand and since it didn't seem that cold, he could still stay there for another three minutes, just enough time for me to…

A hand placed itself hard on my mouth and nose, blocking every noise I could make and also stopping my breathing, while another tightened around my torso. Instinct took over and I started kicking with my legs and elbows everywhere I could, dropping my gun in the process. I heard my attacker speak, but I was too panicked and had too little air to care for his words. My main goal was to escape him, preferably with as little noise as possible. I freed my right arm, somehow, and managed to place a hard hit with my elbow in what I imagined was his groin, judging by the sounds he was making and the fact that he released me in that instant.

"Damn it, woman!"

I recognized his voice just as I punched him in the face.

"Loki?" I reached for my gun when I heard a harsh "fuck!" coming from him.

"Never expected you to have such a filthy mouth." I pointed the gun at his chest, and in the dim light I could see some blood dripping from his nose. He looked surprised for a moment, but let out an understanding sight while regaining his posture.

"I am truly regretful for misleading you, but we must hurry." The fact that he was trying to stop a bleeding that I caused was making me a little too happy. "There is little time before they realize you've escaped." I took a glance outside and saw the man left. He was probably inside already. Hell, they could be downstairs wondering why their boss is taking so long. But still, I kept the gun pointed at him.

"Why should I trust you _again_?" I emphasized the last word, just so he could be clear on the matter. "You just said their 'offer' was better than mine." He sighed again in frustration, probably starting to lose his patience. "I was compelled to lie to them, for both our sakes."

"I still don't believe you. You lie for a living."

"So do you."

Well, touché. But I was still reticent about him. After all, they called him Silvertongue. Lying was his second nature. He was so good at it, he even fooled me, and I lived in the same house with him for a whole week. Not to mention I was trained to know when somebody is lying.

"Please, we do not have time."

But I was also trained to know when somebody was sincere. And right now, in this abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, in the dim light, in a filthy room with a gun pointed at him, right now I wasn't sure if he was sincere or not.

But I trusted him anyway.

"Let's go."


	21. Chapter 21

I inspected the corridor, just to be sure they didn't hear us.

"Did they tell you where we are?" If Loki managed to "discuss business" with the big kahuna, maybe he found out something useful. "No." Well, that was really useful.

"Okay, here's the plan. There are four men downstairs…"

"I know."

"… and I need you to go and distract them. There is another staircase that leads down. I will wait just round the corner. Since they seem to somehow trust you enough to let you roam free, go and look panicked and do something to make them go upstairs while I get out and find something to get us out of here. But let them go before you, so you can run outside to meet me, okay?"

It seemed like a good plan. The simple ones were the best ones, and apparently he didn't have any objections. I was sure one of the keys I got from John's jacket was from a car, or at least some kind of vehicle, so all I had to do was get out, find it, and get out of here.

I was about to exit the room and head for the staircase when he grabbed my wrist. I turned to him, face blank, mentally preparing myself for whatever he wanted to say. Instead he just stood there, his mouth ajar, staring at me, measuring me from head to toe, and finally returning to look me in the eyes. I averted them, muttering a "let's go already" and pulled my arm from his grip.

I got downstairs as fast as I could, without looking back. My mind kept going back to him, trying to figure a motive, a purpose in any of his actions. It was getting out of hand again and I should be focused on this now. This exact place right here from where I was supposed to get out.

Standing on my toes, ready to launch myself at the exit as soon as the men got upstairs, I was watching as Loki came into my visual sight and started shouting at the men for being "idiots who can't even supervise a girl". Three of them went up the stairs as fast as they could, guns already out, while Loki made room for them, but the fourth didn't seem so eager to go with them. I panicked a little, since I hoped they would all go upstairs, but before I could think of a back-up plan, Loki already elbowed him so graciously he fell unconscious on the spot. I sprinted towards the exit without a second thought, the Norse god close behind me when we got outside.

We didn't have much time before they would realize it's a trick. With all the adrenaline rushing through my body, my eyes were barely connecting with my brain and I was working way slower than I would like. Still, I managed somehow to get in the only car I could see, praying that the key I got from John was from it.

I managed to turn the car around when we heard the first gunshots. Still I accelerated as much as I could on the bumpy, unpaved road, trying to get away as fast as I could and hoping they weren't great shooters. I heard Loki mutter something under his breath when he hit his head on the window, but I ignored him. I also ignored him for the 40 minutes that took us to reach a town. I had better things to think about.

* * *

To say he was confused was a major understatement. He was perplexed, puzzled and baffled, all this while a tad annoyed and tense. Her reactions were always so curious, even though he understood most of them. He knew she was going to be angry about his little act, but never expected her to actually hit him and then act like he wasn't even there. The more he stood there, the more puzzling Midgardians got. Especially this one. And the more he thought about her, the more he started to question her.

She saved him, treated him, protected him, took care of him, all this after the things he did to her home. She gave him a second chance without a second thought. Just like Thor, just like his mother… just like Odin, she just accepted him back, even after his madness, even after he told her he lied to her six years ago. She questioned him at first, of course, it was only natural. But after that, she never judged, she just picked up all his pieces and put him back together. Not like the Master did with him the first time he was broken, there was no madness this time, no anger, no pain, no torture. His family managed to set him straight, with a lot of effort, it's true, but they managed it. They took him back, defeated and ashamed as he was, but they forgave him, even though he didn't quite understood why. After what happened on Midgard, after his mind cleared, he realized his family was now the only thing he had. But right when he was about to embrace them back, the Jotuns came.

And after that, she gave him something much better for the broken parts. She gave him acceptance. Not forgiveness and love, like his family, though he needed those too, but acceptance. And deep down, he longed for that more than anything.

That was probably the reason he trusted her so fast, and he of all people knew how hard trust came for him. But he did, nonetheless, even though he didn't have a good enough reason for it. And she told him she also trusts him. Or, at least, she said she trusted him, up until now.

They entered a town after a long and painful period of silence, and after driving around for a little while, she stopped the vehicle in front of what appeared to be some kind of restaurant. He watched her curiously as she began inspecting the car, looking for something she couldn't find. He heard her mutter an annoyed "great" before she turned her attention to him. With a rapid movement she untied her hair from the messy bun it was in and tossed him the small elastic.

"Tie your hair, it's annoying. I'm giving you another haircut when we get home." She opened the door and got out, throwing a "Wait here!" at him over her shoulder.

He knew his hair was a complete disaster. Frankly, it never stood in its place and he always had to use a little magic to make it stay right, but now he couldn't do that anymore. Even though he suspected he was returning to normal, he was still human. The changes in his body temperature and the little magic trick he managed to pull at that abandoned building disappeared as unexpectedly as they appeared.

Of course, he didn't mind her cutting his hair. He didn't mind her anywhere near him, actually, and it annoyed him to an extent since he realized he had a childish infatuation with the Midgardian female that saved him. He had a lot of time to think in the days they didn't speak with each other, so he understood that _this thing_ he had with her was just because she was the first one to be kind to him besides his family. It happened the same with Thor when he was banished from Asgard, he got emotionally attached to the woman that helped him. Of course, he fell in love with her afterwards, but he knew something like this could never happen to him. He was sure whatever he felt now wasn't love, not that he would know how love presented itself.

She opened the car door and got in quickly with two large drinks in her hands, handing one to him.

"Sorry, they only had coffee." He took the hot drink carefully, nodding at her as thanks and noticing the small device in her hands.

"What is it?"

"It's a cell phone. I borrowed it." He noticed the small pause, his mind analyzing it quickly.

"Isn't stealing against the law here as well?" There were a lot of differences between Asgard and Earth, but they also had a lot in common. She looked a bit taken aback by his question, but then gave him a small smile as she got out of the car again.

"I intend to give it back, so it's borrowed."

She kept close to the car while she was talking on the phone, never leaving his sight. She probably wasn't doing it on purpose, but he still found it comforting. He admitted to himself since the first time he had nightmares that he felt better when she was around. He felt better when he could see her, even thought he couldn't quite understand it. Probably it was because he became accustomed to her being around him and now he was feeling uneasy every time she left him alone, even if only for a couple of minutes.

She made him a sign through the window that she was going to return the phone and then got out of sight. The uneasy feeling was back again, but he pushed it at the back of his mind, instead thinking about who she talked on the phone. Probably her father, though she never called him that.

"Okay, we're in West Virginia so…" she began when she got back in the car but stopped when she noticed his confused look. "It'll take us about six hours tops to get home. I hope you're not car sick." She even let a small laugh out at the end of the sentence and he must admit he felt relieved. She continued to talk while looking for the right road to go on. "I spoke with the director and he's sending a team there. If we're lucky, they might catch them, if not, well, he already started searching for them since I gave them the car number."

"You seem more joyous now."

"I am, actually." She had to drive, so he could study her reactions in peace now. Not that he had anything better to do, actually. "Not because of you, though." She threw him an annoyed glare and he could feel his grin appear on his face almost involuntary. "Whatever happened, it happened, and neither of us can change anything now." Small pause. "But I won't apologize. And I hope that hit left a mark." He cringed a little at the painful memory. He decided that as long as he was going to remain human, he wasn't going to make her that angry again, because she sure knew how to hit.

"So, am I forgiven?" He pushed a little more since he saw she was returning to her usual mood. She didn't look at him and when she didn't answer right away, he thought she didn't hear him or ignored him again. So he let it be, for his own safety.

"I don't forgive." He studied her face again and she seemed to choose her words carefully. "I don't forget things… I don't forget anything and I can't forgive. Ignorance is bliss, but not in my case. The only thing I can do is move on." She still didn't look at him, preferring to keep her eyes on the road. He wasn't that surprised though. He never imagined her as the type to just forgive people.

"But I'm still irritated about your little act."

"I believe you understand why I had to do that. I had a plan, after all." She let out a disapproving grunt.

"How was I supposed to know? I thought you betrayed me and went dancing with the bad guys!"

"I told you to wait. It should have crossed your _trained spy mind_ that I had figured a way out of there when I did that." It was a pointless argument, he didn't even understand why he was bothered about it.

"You know what crossed my mind? The fact that you're _the Norse god of mischief and lies._ Next time don't throw all your acting skills on the table, because I might believe you again!" She pulled the wheel and accelerated, passing the car in front of them with a little too much speed. "But, of course, if you told me that you were returning back to your original form, I might not have doubted you."

"I'm not returning to normal." He was opening and closing his fists, but stopped when he realized it. "The temperature changes, the trick at that building… they were temporary improvements. I'm not changing back… at any rate, not now." He stretched out his arm and touched her hand gently. "My temperature is human, see?"

"How am I supposed to know you're not lying?" He looked baffled by her question. He didn't have any way of proving that he was sincere, since she was the one who noticed the change in his temperature that morning and saw his magic trick from before. If he was in her place, he wouldn't believe him either. But her question…

"You know I'm not lying." She let it out in a certain way, like she already knew the answer. He wasn't sure, but he betted on that card, and luckily he was right.

"You're lucky I know your secrets." She turned with a big smile on her face, eyes shining in the dim morning light. His first reaction was to smile too, even though he questioned her words. "No, I don't believe you do."

"That's what you think." She winked, a very familiar look of mischief on her face. _I know something that you don't_, it said. Turning on the radio, she stopped their conversation, and even though he didn't quite understand their music, he could just relax and watch the sun rising as they headed back home.

* * *

_Look finally a longer chapter!_

_Okay, ranting time: as Kyoki no Megami pointed out to me, yes there probably still are some mistakes. English is not my first language, so there might be some(probably a lot) of grammar mistakes or the I'm-typing-so-fast-I-don't-even-know-if-it's-corre ct mistakes or the occasional missing letter, so I apologize for that! I check everything before I publish it, but there are still some that escape my eagle sight... oh well, my apologies, again._

_Also, I'm painfully aware that Loki is mostly out of character in this story and my only pathetic excuse for it is that in 6 years he might have changed... a lot... not really... still, I welcome any kind of observations you might have! Please let me know if you like where this is going or if not, what you liked and what bothered you and all that, criticism is always welcomed as long as you're not very rude about it! So let me know your opinions people and thank you very very much for reading this, it means a lot!_


	22. Chapter 22

"Your phone is ringing!" Lokis' voice was coming from the stairs and since I knew I locked the hidden door behind me, it could only mean he managed to crack the code. _He's smart, at least give him that_. Even though technically my inner voice was, well, mine, I had a vague feeling that it liked Loki more than it liked me.

I took one of the towels and wiped the sweat that wasn't already soaked into my clothes, taking my time since I wasn't that anxious to get upstairs and answer the phone. Two days and a new punch bag later, and my mood still didn't improve, especially after the things I learned after I got home. The fact that I didn't sleep since I got home didn't help either.

I hated the look on Lokis' face after we got back and I went through the e-mails Phil sent me. I hated that, at first, he was looking at me like I was some child throwing a tantrum just because her mother didn't buy her candy. But now he was pitiful. He left me alone with all my anger and disappointment, figuring that maybe I needed time alone to sort my thoughts. And somewhere in the back of my mind, it hurt that the only way he figured he could help me was to leave me alone. And some part of my mind accepted it, accepted that there was no way for him to help, while the other part was kicking and screaming and pleading me to do something, to let him know that I needed help. But it was pointless.

What was worse though wasn't him figuring I needed time alone. It was the fact that time alone meant time for my mind to be free, to abandon the control over the body and just roam again in the depths of the past, bringing repressed memories and emotions back above. And it was painful and exhausting, but I couldn't stop it, because I knew I needed this somehow, I needed all the past memories locked in my mind back to sort this out, to find the answer as to why I was acting like this. Why was I letting all the anger and confusion and pure disappointment take over me? It didn't make sense. It wasn't rational.

But emotions were never rational.

I looked at the callers' ID, seriously thinking about closing the phone so I wouldn't be bothered. But it could be important. And just as I was weighting the pros and cons of it, the phone rang again and I had no choice but to answer it.

"Yes?"

"It was about time you picked the damn phone." The familiar voice greeted, and I had the urge to just hang up.

"Sorry Tony, I was downstairs. What happened?" It was best if we made it short, because even if Phil and Clint and Natasha knew me since what seemed forever, Tony Stark could always sense when something was off with me. And right now it was, but I didn't need him to know that.

"I just spoke with Fury. Pack up, you're heading for NY in about an hour." Before I even had time to protest, because the director didn't say a single word about this to me, he continues with a poorly hidden grin in his voice. "Your pet comes too." I rolled my eyes involuntary at the phone.

"He's not my pet. And also, director Fury never mentioned anything about this." I heard his theatrical sigh and couldn't help rolling my eyes again. "Boyfriend, doll, whatever you call him. I don't make the rules here this time, it was established that you both come to the Avengers' Tower until further notice from S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Any news from Thor?"

"He's supposed to come tomorrow with fresh info. Now, Natasha will pick you up in an hour. I'll have some coffee ready when you get here. You sound like you need it." He hung up without saying anything else.

I went to the living room first to announce Loki about it since he left the kitchen as soon as I entered it. I found him sprawled on the couch in what seemed like a nonchalant position, apparently watching a war documentary on T.V.

"If you wanted to know so bad what I was talking about on the phone, you could've stayed in the room." I took a glance outside, mesmerized for a moment by the forest. "We're leaving." I announced next, without ceremony.

"What is wrong?"

I considered going to stay next to him on the couch for a moment, but I first needed to shower before I could get close to anybody. "Apparently, it will be safer for now if we move at the Tower. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s orders. They don't like us in this…" I took a look around, only guessing what the council would say about my cozy house. "… unsupervised environment."

His face was a classic expression of pure confusion, something I noticed was characteristic for Asgardians who visited Earth. With a raised eyebrow, he continued his questions. "Is it because of... ?" He gestured a little towards himself.

"Well, it's mainly your fault." He looked away when I talked, his hands already playing nervously with the edge of his shirt. "If what Thor said is true, if the Jotuns attack Earth, it will be because they're looking for you." I saw him clench his jaw and I felt a little bad about saying it so blunt. He may have felt guilty before I started pointing fingers. "But don't worry, at least this time it's not intentional." He just glared at me, clearly not tasting my humor, so I decided it was time to go and take a shower and then pack for our little trip.

"We're leaving in an hour."

* * *

"Hey, guys!" I greeted as I entered the spacious living room of the Avengers' Tower, the familiar smell welcoming me. I dropped my backpack near the couch, stopping to see what Clint and Steve were watching, but my balance was thrown off by Loki stumbling into me. Just as I prepared to fall flat on my face, he caught me with a steady hand, looking almost apologetic, but without saying anything. I let him be, turning my attention back to the two men, only to see Clint looking a bit concerned and Steve already half standing and leaning in my direction to catch me. He regained his posture quickly though, and after the stiff silence, cleared his throat and actually smiled a little at Loki.

"Nice reflexes." There was another period of silence, the two measuring each other. Even though Loki was taller, he didn't stand a chance against the Cap now that he was human, and something told me that they both knew it, so they dropped it. Only Steve's attention was now focused on me, his face a mix of concern and curiosity.

"Didn't sleep very well." I answered to his untold question, waving my hand dismissively and heading for the kitchen.

"I've got just the thing for that." Tony said, entering the living room with a gigantic cup of hot coffee and handing it to me. He stared at Loki without even trying to hide it and actually nodding his head approvingly. "He looks better now." He patted my shoulder, probably a gesture to show I've done a good job with cutting his hair. "Human even, if that's possible. Well, maybe except for the height. Nobody's really that tall."

The Norse god was looking at me a little concerned, probably not sure of how he should act. I couldn't blame him really, a normal person didn't know how to act around those guys, and he was the one who's ass they sent flying in Asgardian prison. "He likes your haircut." I translated for him. "And he's joking." I turned to Tony again, a half smile already on my face. "He's jealous because he's short."

"I have an excellent and healthy height, thank you very much." He stated, matter-of-factly. "Where's doctor Banner?" I asked before he could think of anything else to say. I saw how all of them took a quick peek at Loki before Clint answered me. "He's in the lab, as usual." I was sure he was about to say something more, but he kept it to himself, whatever it was. But Natasha apparently spoke his thoughts.

"He's concerned about being around Loki right now." I saw the person in question flinch a little, probably his memories from six years ago coming back to him. I tried to save the situation as best as I could, picking my backpack and heading to the elevator, making Loki a sign to follow me. "Gonna unpack this." I said to no one in particular, and then turned my attention to Tony. "Where will he sleep?" Unfortunately, Tony took this as another chance to tease/annoy me.

"Well, the master bedroom is ready for guests…" His grin only grew bigger as I sighed. "It's sound proof, you know?"

"Fine, I'll find a room myself." I haven't sleep in over 48 hours and I was in no mood for Tony's clever remarks. As soon as the elevators' door closed, Loki turned to me and started talking immediately.

"I do not feel particularly better here." Probably the look on my face scared him a little, because he continued more carefully. "Just so you would know."

"Don't worry, they're great. Give them a little time, that's all." He looked at me doubtfully and I sighed again. "I know you dislike it, but it's a must. Trust me, you'll like them once you overcome your… little problems." It was nice to hear him laugh again, even if just a little. It meant we were going back to normal. It meant he would stop avoiding me, especially now, when he was trapped here with the Avengers and with me being the only person who was actually accepting of him, he had no choice but to rely on me. And I didn't mind that at all.

The floor under the living room and kitchen was known as the "sleeping floor", since there were only bedrooms here. And even though there were 10 gigantic bedrooms, only three were permanently in use: Steve's, doctor Banner's and Clint and Natasha's. There was also Thor's bedroom, for when he came on Earth, and there was also one that was somehow mine, since every time I got there and ended staying overnight, I would go to the same room. So I opened the first door on the left, letting my eyes wonder again over it. It wasn't special or anything, it didn't even have signs it was ever used, except for the few books that I left on the only table there when I visited last time. Loki stood behind me, studying it over my head. A double bed, a small nightstand, a closet, a table and two armchairs were the only furniture, but the huge windows and the spectacular view of New York they had made it fantastic.

I left my backpack near the bed and then went back on the corridor, opening the second door on the left, the one that lead into one of the supposed guest-rooms.

"You'll stay here." I said as I turned to Loki after I took a glance on the window. "The bathroom's there. Unfortunately, you'll have to share it with me." I took his bag and placed it on the bed, but he still didn't move from the doorway. I walked past him and into the corridor and started pointing doors. "The first two bedrooms on each side have a common bathroom – don't ask, I have no idea why, but it's even bigger than mine so I don't think it will be a problem. The door in front of my bedroom is actually Thor's room, for when he comes here." I pointed to the two doors that led to the bedrooms in the middle. "Left is Cap's, right is doctor Banner's. And the last one on the right is Clint and Natasha's. I strongly recommend you don't head that way unless you want to get shot." He scoffed and went back to his new bedroom with me following him inside.

"Upstairs is the living room and the kitchen and the library. Though there is another library a few levels down. You're probably not allowed to go near the lab, so it's pointless to tell you where it is." He was just standing there, looking at me with an almost blank expression. "If you have any questions, ask." And with that I proceeded to leave his room and go back to mine, unzipping my backpack and getting out an old shirt and sweatpants. I changed as fast as I could and then ran to the Towers' gym, the caffeine starting to kick in already.

I was actually feeling a little bad for leaving Loki alone, but then again he wasn't a child. If he needed something, he could just ask the others. _After all, I'm not his mother. Though I'm not sure if he knows how the elevator works…_

_Oh well, c'est la vie. _

* * *

_I present you this chapter with no further comment because I see no need in it. And, as always, reviews/opinions are always welcomed._


	23. Chapter 23

I let myself fall on the floor of the gym after not even half an hour, completely exhausted and panting like crazy, closing my eyes and hoping I wouldn't catch a cold.

"Seven?" Steve's voice came from the door, a little too concerned and by the time I decided to open my eyes he was already standing next to me, looking worried. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm… I'm fine." He gave me a hand, quickly putting me back on my feet with no effort. "I'm just exhausted."

"And here I was, hoping for a little sparing match." I turned and smiled a little at Clint, trying to ignore the captain's disapproving looks. "Give me 10 minutes and we can do that." His expression hardened, obviously taken aback by me positive response to his offer. Neither Clint nor Natasha liked to spar with other people, preferring each others' company, but I managed to be somehow their second option since Natasha began training me all those years back.

"Are you sure? You look…" He paused, sharing a concerned look with Steve. The Avengers were the closest thing I had to friends, but most of the time I was glad I didn't spend much time with them, since they had the tendency to just treat me like a little child. "Well, you look like you didn't get that much sleep lately." Steve continued from behind me.

"Well, coincidentally, I didn't." I stretched a little, taking off the boxing gloves. "So, you on?"

"Sure."

I hopped into the fighting ring that was in the gym, Clint following me shortly after, stretching a little and getting ready for our little spar. Unfortunately, we were stuck dancing around each other, since Clint never made the first move and I was recapping his usual combat moves.

We started easy, throwing punches at each other with not too much force and usually easy to avoid, but when he attacked me on the upper part of my face and I dodged by letting myself down, I had a clear shot at his ribs and went for it, quickly jumping back to get my balance again. He let out a small "uff" which distracted me for a second and he easily dodged my next punch, throwing me aside. I managed to catch his left fist and turned around with him, throwing him on the ground more gently than usual, not wanting to break anything. I didn't even have time to give him a hand, because his feel flew right under mine, cutting me from any contact with the floor and ending with me on my back and with a throbbing ankle and Clint standing over me with a victorious grin on his face.

"Well, that was fast. You really need some sleep." I probably winced in pain when I tried to get up because he just grabbed me by my armpits and put me on my feet again. The pain in my left ankle started to get worse, so I just muttered a "yeah, right" at him and got off the ring, limping past Steve and heading to the door. He still looked concerned, but there was a twitch at the corner of his lips.

"Nice move you pulled there."

"Thank you. I got that from Thor." I winked at him, remembering the last sparring match I saw between him and Thor. The Norse god won with the exact same move I pulled on Clint, but unlike me, he threw Steve hard on the ground and he didn't bother to get up after that. It was a great move and I was glad I could pull it, though I should've figured that a trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent wouldn't stay down that easy.

I headed straight to the kitchen, trying my best to ignore my ankle and getting some ice from the fridge. I barely had time to settle comfortably on the couch when Steve came to the living room with a small roll of bandages and took care of my foot despite my protests. It wasn't broken, it wasn't dislocated, I didn't even think it was sprained, I just put a little too much pressure on it after the blow and now it was swollen. I had way more worse things happen to me than a little swelling, but Steve didn't listen, he just bandaged it tightly.

I went back to my room after that and stepped into the shower as fast as I could, letting the hot water completely relax me and feeling all the energy drain from my body. I was awake for over 48 hours and even though I felt as hard as a flour sack, I still didn't feel any trace of sleep coming towards me anytime soon. It took me about 20 seconds to decide that, even if I was awake, I had no obligation to spend my time with company, so I got out of the shower and started filling the bathtub, locking both the bathrooms' doors in that time. After that, I got comfortable in the tub, added my favorite chocolate-scented bath oil and let my mind wander without the concern of time.

* * *

It was unusually quiet for an afternoon at the Avengers' Tower, even though almost all of them were in the living room. The T.V. was on, but nobody interrupted the woman on the news while she talked. But the silence couldn't go on for long.

"Okay, is anyone else slightly worried about this?" Stark interrupted, also turning the T.V. off.

"Why should we?" Natasha's voice was calm while she entered the living room, a pile of newspapers in her hands.

"Maybe because we have no idea what's going on? We don't know what we're going to face, we don't know _when_ we're going to face them. For all I know _he_ could be the bad guy and I'm letting him stay in my house!" Stark sighed in frustration, getting up and starting to pace around the room. He was the only one who seemed to have any kind of reaction at the recent facts they discovered.

"To be fair, we almost never know what we're facing." Doctor Banner said, an amused smile on his face. The world seemed to get weirder and weirder every day, and unfortunately the Avengers had to deal with most of it.

"Yeah, but still, Loki?! I mean come on! That guy went ballistic on us six years ago and now he's under some kind of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s witness protection? And they let Seven take care of him! Poor girl's probably under some kind of mind control!" Stark's enthusiastic speech made every one turn their attention to him, all focused on the problem now.

"We all have our doubts, Tony." The Captain commented, but didn't bother to say anything else. He wasn't sure how to feel about this situation, but he trusted Agent Seven and she seemed relaxed enough around Loki, so how bad could things be?

"And I highly doubt Seven's crazy." Clint added, mostly as he wouldn't want to believe it. "I know that this seems bad, but… she kind of trusts him. And it seems that he trusts her back. And it might be a good thing."

The room was silenced again, but before Tony could say anything more, the two persons they were talking about entered the room. Seven smiled at them and then headed straight to the kitchen, while Loki remained in front of the elevators' doors perfectly still and not bothering to look at any of the people in the room. When he moved, everyone tensed a little, but he didn't even glance at them, instead following the young woman.

And then Tony Stark started to giggle.

"Uhm, Tony…?" Steve's voice was incredulous, and everyone's confused looks only made the situation stranger.

"Oh, God…" he was really laughing now. "Did you…?" With a venture of his hand in the direction of the kitchen, where the pair was, he took a deep breath and then started laughing again.

"What is it, Stark?" Natasha didn't bother to still look at him, but instead snapped a little at him while reading her newspaper.

He managed to calm his laughter enough to form a single sentence, and then broke of laughing again.

"He imprinted on her like a baby duck."

None of the reactions were quite as drastic as Tonys', but there were a few amused laughs and smiles, and a little scoff from Natasha, relieving the tension of the situation.

"He can still hear you, you know?" Sevens' voice was heard from the kitchen, and by the time she came into the room with a cup in her hand and Loki closely following her, Tony managed to calm himself.

"So, did you two have a good time? Bed comfy?" Stark asked, lifting his eyebrows suggestively at the pair. Seven rolled her eyes at him, a common thing she did around Tony Stark, and Loki looked at her with a raised eyebrow, an unspoken question in his eyes. "What, he doesn't get my hints?" Tony asked the young woman again, a smirk on his face, while everyone waited to see how this would end but without seeming they're interested.

"Stark, I made those kinds of allusions since before you were even in a cradle." Loki replied, looking at the man with poorly hidden mockery. "Though I must say I am more trained in the art of subtlety than you are."

Seven's voice interfered before Tony could let his rising frustration out. "You're not allowed to kill him." She took another sip from her cup before she continued. "You can hit him if he's a jerk, though." Loki furrowed his brows a little at her, obviously bothered by her words, but she just smiled at him. "I can't assure you he won't hit back." She added, but shoot the god a warning glare.

"Why would I kill him?" Tony said amused, every sign of bother gone. "I like him." His reassuring smile to the Norse god made him look at Stark suspiciously, but he didn't say anything. Instead, when he looked around, he saw two of his brothers' teammates roll their eyes and the only woman in the room beside Seven glare at the mischievous looking hero. He also heard a sigh from beside him, and heard the young woman clearly when she spoke.

"This isn't going to end well."

He wasn't sure how to feel about her words.

* * *

_I am in the middle of an excruciating writer's block and neither Seven nor Loki are very cooperative at the moment, so you're gonna have to stick with this boring chapter. Also I'm leaving for two weeks without internet, so it's gonna be a little hiatus here - hopefully I'll come back with some inspiration._


	24. Chapter 24

**I apologize for taking such a long time to update, but as soon as I came home I ended up having guests on my head for _a whole week_ and I didn't even have time to open my computer... so after a very long pause, here it is, new chapter full of feels and nonsense and I don't even know where this story will be headed ugh writing is hard (I also apologize for any mistakes that may still be around)  
**

**Anyway, please enjoy!**

* * *

Some of the things that happened to me sometimes were absolutely stunning. Almost impossible, really. Like, for example, the undercover missions that took months and you had to always stay alert and expect anything to happen, or showing New York to a superhuman that was asleep under ice for seven decades and a prince from another planet who was also a Norse god.

Or the fact that I still couldn't sleep, even though I was already awake for 60 hours.

Sleep was always a problem for me, since my mind always worked and worked and keeping it under control was difficult, so most of the time I would just sleep when I was completely exhausted, so I could be sure that I didn't just lay in bed looking at the ceiling. But now it was frustrating, and I couldn't handle another night without sleep, so I got out of bed and made my way to the closed, fumbling around until I found the pack of cigarettes that I always carried around when I was leaving somewhere. The fact that I got it mid January and it still had 13 cigarettes made me a little happier, since I only smoked in extreme situations.

Deciding the rooftop was the best choice, I left the room as quietly as I could, making my way to the elevator quickly and without noise.

"You still cannot sleep?"

"Holy sh… What the hell, Loki?!" I turned to him, my heart beating so loud I was sure he could hear it. Trying to calm down, I heard him chuckle a little and I couldn't help but scoff at him annoyed. "You scared me to death."

"I apologize." He came closer and took the hand that was placed firmly on my chest hesitantly, starting to play with my fingers. "May I ask where are you going?"

"Rooftop." I answered abruptly, turning and heading to the elevator. I had a strange sensation when I got in and all the light covered me, like I was exposed to him while he stood in the dark hallway, only a distant shape for my eyes. I stopped the door before closing, shooting him an annoyed look. "Are you coming or what?" He was next to me with just three steps.

I loved the roof of the Tower and I loved all the sensations it gave me. Being one of the tallest buildings in New York, you could see almost the whole city and the grandeur of it was fantastic. It was like being on top of the world and it was both the most frightening and the most beautiful experience ever.

"You like it?" I asked Loki, who was still keeping quiet and looking around with a curious expression on his face. I lit a cigarette while he was circling around and I couldn't help but smile at him. "It's pretty impressive, huh?" He didn't look at me, but gave a short nod to approve me.

"Here." I took his hand and dragged him towards to the edge of the tower, but stopped midway there since he didn't seem to want to go further. "Look at all the buildings and the lights. Think of all the people living there, sleeping now, all at your feet. What I love about this place is that you feel so big and powerful and just _great_…" I paused a little for suspense, took a deep breath, and squeezed his hand a little.

"… and then you look up. And you see all that space and the sudden realization that you're just a tiny speck of star dust on a floating rock hits you hard and you just… I don't really know. I just think it's beautiful."

I felt him tense next to me as soon as he looked up, but now his breathing was getting shallow and his palm was sweating. "Loki?" I looked at him now and he was shaking a little, his eyes unfocused but still looking up. I dropped my already extinguished cigarette and started dragging him back to the elevator, checking his pulse in the same time. His heart was beating way too fast and now he was choking and had trouble breathing.

I managed to somehow get him back to his room without waking up the whole Tower. By the time I placed him on his bed, his breathing was returning to normal and his pulse was decreasing.

"Hey!" I shook him a little to get him out of that state, and while the fearful look in his eyes was gone, he was looking right through me now.

"Loki!" I pinched the back of his hand twice before noticing he was returning back among mortals. He seemed confused and still a little scared, but I never thought that a little height would affect him that much. When he finally realized where he was, I was able to ask if he was alright.

"Yes, I believe so…" He shook his head, making his now short hair become even messier.

"You should've told me you're afraid of heights." I told him a little too accusatory, but I couldn't help it since he scared the hell out of me the second time tonight. "I am not."

"But… you had a panic attack." I checked his pulse again and checked if he had a fever. "Those don't just happen without any motive." I placed one of my hands on his cheek since I was standing in front of him, making him look up at me. "Something must have triggered it."

I could see he wanted to avoid my look, but I didn't let him move his gaze. We stood in silence for a while, just looking at each other, and then he did something I never expected. He wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me closer to him so he could lean his forehead against my stomach, muttering something intelligible in my shirt.

"Say that again." I started playing with his hair and I could feel him relax even more.

"It was the space." I stopped for a second, completely baffled. "Will you explain, please? I don't quite understand it." I felt him stiffen again and quickly added: "You don't have to though, if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. I was just…" Concerned, terrified, perplexed, agitated, surprised.

"… curious, that's all."

"Thor never spoke to you about how I came in contact with the Chitauri?" It was hard to understand his muttering, but I didn't mind since the tingling sensation in my abdomen when he was speaking was fantastic. "Delicate subject." I muttered back to him.

"Ah, I see…" He pulled himself and placed his palms on my hips, bending his head back so he could look me in the eyes. I could see he was searching for something, and emotion, a sign, I had no idea what. I didn't know what kind of expression I had on my face, but he found it good enough to continue.

"I fell through space." He wasn't looking at me anymore. Just like every time he told me something about his past, he wasn't with me anymore. He was back there.

"I don't know how much time. I did not even know what time was then. Just space. Infinite darkness and silence where I was alone with my thoughts." His voice was breaking a little, but he still went on. "The Chitauri found me floating through space and took me…"

He sighed and placed his head on my stomach again, hugging me even tighter than before. "All I could think of then was that the tortures they put me through are a blessing compared to the endless darkness of the space."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." I couldn't help but hug him back, even though we were in an uncomfortable and weird position. I couldn't help but imagine how that must have felt for him, and my chest tightened at those thoughts. I knew how destructive it could be to be alone with your thoughts, and doing that for too long… it wasn't easy, nor very pleasant.

It was terrifying.

And I understood now why he was so broken when I met him the first time.

I let him go and took his face in my hands, letting my fingers learn his features and arrange his messy hair a little. He kept his eyes closed and I was grateful for that, because in that moment I didn't want him to see my face. I didn't want him to know that he could cause me this much emotional pain with just a short story about his past. I didn't want him to know that he could make me cry with just a few words, because if he knew that, he knew that he had power over me. And he wouldn't even need to lie to me anymore, because where was one heartbreaking story, there were more, and I wasn't sure I could handle any more of his pain.

He grabbed both of my hands with his and I quickly looked up, trying to mask the still unshed tears while he was entwining our fingers. But when he got up I had to close my eyes, too afraid to look at him.

"I apologize for making you feel bad for myself."

I opened my eyes surprised, and the closeness came as a shock. The fact that his eyes were teary as well came as another shock, and so was the fact that he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

And the biggest shock was the fact that I leaned forward and kissed him. On the lips. Without even thinking about it.

Well, actually I thought about it. I thought "oh, what the hell" and just went for it. And now his expression changed from surprise to cheekiness so fast, it actually made me think he planned the whole thing.

"A peck? That's it?"

His grin turned into an actual smile as he pulled me closer to him, our arms wrapping around each other and lips smashing together. This was definitely not a peck. And this was definitely us crossing any boundaries we had. And it was the most delicious feeling I had in a long time.

And it was definitely bad.

"We really… shouldn't…"

"Shh…" he continued to place kisses along my jaw line while I still had trouble breathing. I managed to untangle my hands from his neck and hair, a tide of regret washing over me as I did it, and pushed him the whole length of my arms so he couldn't touch me anymore.

"This is a bad idea." I felt proud that my voice wasn't breathy anymore.

"Maybe it is." His smile was slowly melting my already poor-excuse of a resistance. "Now if you would be so kind as to use your mouth for something other than speaking…"

_Damn you and your husky, sexy voice._

"Yes! I mean no… I…" I took a step back, annoyed by the mess in my head. "Yes, it's definitely a bad idea. And no, I will not… I'm not done speaking." I risked sneaking a look at him and for a second I thought about giving up and having my way with him. Just for a second, and then I thought about the consequences. And I thought about how to explain it to him. _I can't sleep with you because you're still the bad guy and it would be morally wrong. _Yeah, sure, very convincing argument indeed.

"Look, we're in a delicate situation here and… this is not the right time, or the right place. We just can't. Not now." I reached out and touched his cheek a little, and my stomach dropped a little when he leaned into my touch. I was being stupid. I was acting completely selfish, taking something we both wanted from us. We needed this, we needed the comforting, yet I was doing the only thing I knew how to do perfectly.

I was running away.

"I'm sorry."

I couldn't bear to look at his face again while I was leaving, but his voice stopped me right before I opened the door.

"I believe there is no chance of you sleeping here, is it?"

I had to swallow hard and take a deep breath. "I don't think I have enough willpower to do that anymore." I managed to get to my room and into my bed before completely breaking down.


End file.
